By Tracy Morin
In the 1950s, Pietro D’Arcangelo Sr., an Italian immigrant with dreams beyond his coal mining job, made a down payment with his life savings ($727) on a building for sale in Windber, Pennsylvania. He and his wife, Nicolette, opened a grocery with upstairs apartments—but his first resident, Pearl Leonardis, changed the business’ trajectory.
“She asked my mom and dad, ‘Why don’t we make pizzas at lunchtime on Friday and sell them to the factory workers?’” says Pietro D’Arcangelo Jr., current co-owner of D’Arc’s Pizza. “All they had was a little kitchen oven. Mom baked in one apartment, Pearl baked in her oven, and I, as a child, ran pizzas between them and the shop. We couldn’t keep up. Then we decided to buy a pizza oven.”
In addition to square-cut pies inspired by Pietro Sr.’s home region, Abruzzo, other homemade delicacies grace the menu today: Italian wedding soup, homemade meatballs, focaccia bread, biscotti. Though the founder passed away in 1999, numerous family members, including Pietro Jr.’s five kids, brother and co-owner Bob, wife Sharon, cousin Cindy and others helped keep the business afloat.
Now Pietro Jr.’s daughter Erica is putting her own stamp on the business with modern-day marketing, from a website and podcast to robust social media pages and a book (A Story About Pizza) detailing the founders’ journeys (plus coloring and children’s books). Her TikTok videos have gone viral, one amassing more than 64 million views.
Related: Listen to our recent interview with Erica D’Arcangelo on Peel: A PMQ Pizza Podcast
“I said, ‘I don’t wanna do marketing and social media—it’s not gonna help us much,’” Pietro Jr. (pictured below) recalls. “Now, I don’t know how we survived without it.”
Still, like his parents, who sold pizzas Thursday through Sunday (a schedule that stands today), wielding a cutthroat business approach was never the point. As D’Arc’s Pizza celebrates 65 years in 2025, Pietro Jr. continues to juggle a part-time job outside the pizzeria and regular trips to Italy for menu inspiration. “The shop is a passion, more about keeping the legacy alive, paying my staff well,” he says. “And if we make a couple bucks, great.”
Of course, that balance can bristle against the shop’s growing Internet fame, like when @pizza reached out to collaborate. “Our Instagram started blowing up,” Erica says. “My dad called and said, ‘Shut off the ad! We’re too busy now!’”
Tracy Morin is PMQ’s associate editor.
