Tony Rampone, the Master of Pizza

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Tony's Master of Pizza founder, Silvio (Tony) Rampone

IT wasn’t an idle boast when Tony Rampone branded himself the “Master of Pizza” more than 40 (50) years ago.

Before moving to Winnipeg in the early 1970’s, Rampone had already cemented his place in Canadian pizza lore. In 1962, Rampone opened the Roma Pizzeria, the country’s first takeout/delivery-only pizza restaurant. Roma Pizzeria was located in Kingston. Ont., two blocks away from thousands of pizza-starved Queens University students.

“I was making so much money it was coming out of my ears,” says Rampone, who was born in Caserta, Italy, and learned how to cook when he was 14 at an inn owned and operated by his great-grandfather.

Rampone sold Roma in 1971. His intention was the use the money he earned from the sale to travel across Canada. But when he got to Winnipeg and sampled this city’s Italian fare, he decided he could do better. After finding a place to live, Rampone opened the Napoli Pizza and Spaghetti House on Goulet Street in St. Boniface.

Another success story, right? Wrong.

“I had no business; nobody came in, at all,” he says. Napoli closed after six months, but Rampone’s next venture, the Collosseo Ristorante on Corydon Avenue, was a smash hit. So much so, someone approached him eight months later and asked if he would consider selling Collosseo.

Still hurting financially from his St. Boniface experience, Rampone took the money and ran… all the way to Pembina Highway, where he founded Tony’s Master of Pizza in 1972. (After selling his stake in Tony’s Master of Pizza 10 years later, Rampone opened Monte Bello Casa D’Italia, an Italian restaurant with a twist: There was no pizza on the menu.)

At the age of 82, Rampone isn't done yet. He is (at the time this article was written) currently employed as an executive chef at Piazza de Nardi on Taylor Avenue and still hopes to get back into the pizza biz one day with a venture he has dubbed Pic-a-Pizza.

“Everybody nowadays wants to make a fast buck – canned sauce, mushrooms from a can, frozen dough” he says, spitting the words “can” and “frozen” out like he just bit into a lemon. “When I come back, I’ll do everything just like I used to – everything from scratch, and everything homemade. And mark my words, I will be king again.”

Tony passed on Nov 20, 2017. However, his traditions and legacy are carried on.