Domenico Schiano di Cola, co-owner of J&S Pizza in Natrona Heights, Pennsylvania, died unexpectedly on August 6, suffering a sudden cardiac arrest during a family trip to Italy, the beloved country of his birth. He was 29 years old.
Schiano di Cola reportedly visited Italy every year with his family. Compounding the tragedy, he died just hours after a photo shoot with his fiancé, Marissa Kesicki, for their wedding invitation.
“He’d give me the perfect cookie if mine was broken,” Kesicki told TribLive.com. “He’d trade me dinners if I didn’t like mine. Domenico was always putting others before himself and would do everything he could to support those around him.”
In addition to a funeral service held for the young pizzeria owner in Natrona Heights, another service took place in Monte di Procida, a section of Naples, Italy, where he died. “The whole town was stopped because of this funeral,” his mother, Debora Malvone, told TribLive.com. “We had the mayors, past and present, come visiting. Even the priest that didn’t really get to know Domenico…he got choked up at the Mass.”
According to an obituary, Schiano di Cola, known to his friends and loved ones as Domen, was born on February 7, 1995, in Naples, to Debora, his mother, and Biagio Schiano di Cola, his father.
According to the obituary, “Domenico truly lived life to the fullest through simple pleasures: lazy days at home with his fiance and dog; dinners with family; and playing music any chance he could. Known for his kind heart, quick wit and infectious smile, Domenico left a lasting impression on everyone he met.”
He was an avid fan of his beloved Napoli soccer team and the Pittsburgh Steelers, Pirates and Penguins.
He took on an ownership role at his family’s pizzeria after earning a business management degree from Saint Vincent College in 2017. His younger brother, Vincenzo, described him as the pizzeria’s “ever optimistic peacemaker.”
“He was the cool one to take care of (issues),” Vincenzo told TribLive.com. “And me and my dad are freaking out in the background.”
Apparently Schiano di Cola’s heart problems dated back at least to his days at Saint Vincent College. As a freshman in 2013, he made the college’s soccer team but collapsed during conditioning drills due to the health issue, TribLive.com reports. As his former coach, Carl Dei Cas recalled, “He came back and said, ‘Coach, I can’t play. Can I hang out with the team?’ He always had a smile on his face. Always. And the guys liked him.”
But Schiano di Cola returned to play for the team the next year, including making two starts as a midfielder before his interests took him elsewhere. In 2020, he played on Coach Dei Cas’s Greater Pittsburgh Soccer League team.
Schiano di Cola’s maternal grandparents founded J&S Pizza in the 1970s. The extensive menu features pizzas, strombolis, calzones, sandwiches, wings, bruschetta and soups and salads.
