His name is Alessio Lacco, the first to obtain the special Pizzerias on the road certification. He is a true Neapolitan and goes around Atlanta with a 1982 Apecar. His story on Netflix and soon on CNN too.
The Neapolitan pizza was born in the 1700s as street food and spread thanks to the sellers who - previously on foot and then armed with bicycles - sold the pizzas along the streets of the city. The rediscovery of the street food during the last years and the exponential development of food trucks around the world could not leave AVPN indifferent. The true Neapolitan Pizza Association has 900 affiliates spread across all continents.
«We observed the phenomenon of food trucks with great curiosity and we carefully studied a trend which, starting from the USA, has quickly spread globally - explains Antonio Pace, President of AVPN. We prepared ad hoc disciplinary certification and we thought that the first certification had to belong to a true Neapolitan, Alessio Lacco. A pizza chef who grew up in AVPN, who is enjoying extraordinary success in the States».
The young pizza chef is called Alessio Lacco and his pizzeria - actually, a wonderful Apecar from 1982 - has been assigned the certification number 900. The lovers of number combination will not miss the fact that 900° Fahrenheit - that correspond to 480° C - is also the perfect temperature for cooking the real Neapolitan pizza.
But who is Alessio Lacco? Neapolitan, born in '91, a passion for pizza that has accompanied him since he was a child, with Uncle William as a mentor and the desire, one day, to move to the States and try to realize the classic American dream. But first, wisely, he decides to take the AVPN course, convinced that professionalism always rewards.
«I knew that on the other side of the ocean I would need an endorsement like the one offered by the AVPN brand - explains Alessio Lacco - and so it was. Americans are rightly concerned with quality and compliance with the rules. If you come to their house to offer an iconic product like Neapolitan pizza, they want it to be made following all the trappings. The rest, as often happens, was marked by a series of factors where fate, and even luck, played a decisive role».
The boy's American adventure began in 2013 and started in Dallas, where he opened his first AVPN branded pizzeria. Then he moved to California and, from there, he started a career as a "Neapolitan Pizza Consultant". It opened other venues - under the aegis of AVPN too - in Indiana, Oregon, Connecticut and then Bahamas, Thailand, Arab countries, South America and Norway. It looked like the beginning of an unstoppable rise, but the pandemic was a very hard blow - to Alessio as to many other industry professionals.
«In March 2020 I suddenly found myself out of a job - says Lacco - but I did not lose hope and I rolled up my sleeves. A couple of years earlier I had bought a 1982 ApeCar, MP601 model. I had it all restored, I had a wood-burning oven, sink and refrigerator placed on it. I took it to Atlanta, where in the meantime I had moved, and with the precious help of my wife we decided to wait for the storm to pass, and try to realize our new project».
The idea is about becoming peddlers of Neapolitan pizza. Selling the product in parks, streets, squares. Success is immediate, after the most difficult period because of the pandemic. Alessio Lacco's pizza on the road becomes a must: corporate parties, private parties, an increasingly upper-class clientele. The Apecar of Lacco enters the villas of billionaires, sportsmen, celebrities from Atlanta but also from other states. He participates in glamorous parties where he is the real star. And the media did not take long to notice him and his team: Netflix dedicates an important space to him, a report on CNN is planned for the beginning of December.
«Alessio's success makes us proud - concludes President Pace - and it's proof of the appeal that our pizza has around the world. We are sure that many others professionals will follow his example and the tradition of pizza - born in Naples - will continue its tour around the world, thanks to the students trained in our school and - from now on - to the Veraci on the road pizzerias too».
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