Founded in 1960

In 1960, Dominick, along with his brother-in-law Joe, and sister, Mary Jean Paglianite, ventured to Delaware to open a pizza restaurant. This was the birth of Grotto Pizza. During this first summer, pizza slices sold for 20 cents each and a whole pizza was $1.60. The challenge was to introduce pizza in an area where it was not recognized.

To create a market for his pizza, Dominick and his sister spent long hours talking to people and handing out free samples to those who passed by his restaurant. In July of that summer, he noticed he was starting to get many repeat guests. Local Sussex County guests and tourists from the D.C. and Maryland helped to put Grotto Pizza on the map. It was later the local Sussex County guests, and later the tourists from the DC and Maryland area, who put Grotto Pizza on the map.