THE ORIGIN
TRADITION AND ACHIEVEMENT
Armando Imparato and Berardo Caggiano opened Cresci Pizzeria in the heart of York city centre, at 20 Piccadilly in April 2020.
Armando first approached the kitchen in his first years of school in a small town on the Amalfi coast where he studied cookery school, after which he left Italy for a brief working experience in York in 2005 where he also met Berardo for the first time. There, he discovered the art of pizza making and he fell in love with it. He then was hired as pizza chef at a Neapolitan pizzeria in the United States where he had the chance, for the first time, to practise first hand what it’s like to work with Neapolitan pizza. His experience in the States lasted about a year, after which, he went back home where he practised pizza making with some of the masters in his home town. Soon, he learned all the secrets which he had the chance to practise as pizzeria manager on cruise ships for the next few years.
After practising at sea, on cruise ships, all over the world, he decided to settle into a more stable location. He then, decided to come back to York where he reunited with his friend Berardo.
Berardo, like Armando, is form the south of Italy; a small town in Puglia to be precise. He arrived to York when he was 29 years old and he had very little experience in food making. Here, he immediately started working in hospitality and during those years he also approached cooking and baking (strictly at home) with which he soon established a strong connection.
Armando and Berardo never lost each other and they always had the dream of opening a place of their own and, when Armando got back to York, they had a very clear idea of what to do.
At Cresci Pizzeria the main focal point has always been the same, namely to bring the real tradition of Neapolitan pizza to York.
The good personality of both, combined with the great experience acquired over the years in the industry and, no less importantly, the vast knowledge of the traditional produce, guaranteed the Cresci project success.
Soon after opening, there was an immediate positive response form the Italian community in York, which, by all means, helped the business stay afloat during the difficult times of the pandemic as well as spread the word a lot faster.
After only 5 months, Cresci Pizzeria reached their first big achievement as they received the prestigious certification of the Association Verace Pizza Napoletana (True Neapolitan Pizza Certification). This made Cresci Pizzeria the No. 846 accredited pizzeria in the world and the No. 8 in the UK.
Subsequently, Cresci was voted as the best pizzeria in York on an online survey made by a popular online magazine. This incredible result, achieved after only a few months after opening made Armando and Berardo extremely proud and happy. This was also a demonstration of how genuine passion and hard work are almost always the perfect combination.
Cresci, then, also received a full page article on the main local newspaper as trader of the week.
