Etna Loses Pizza Prodigy as Etna Slice Shuts Down
Massimo has left the Etna Slice House leaving the fate of Etna pizza looking dire.
It started this morning at 10:20am. I received a text from my wife Christa saying “Q said he heard a rumor the Etna Slice House is closing.” I was in the middle of a marathon day of work meetings so I didn’t have time to investigate. Minutes later I got a Teams ping from a coworker asking me if I heard about Etna Slice House.
Then a deluge of texts from various pizza enthusiasts and readers came my way. Etna Slice House was no more. The Instagram handle changed to “NoMoreSliceHouse” and posted the following:
This shouldn’t be happening. I’ve been covering Etna Slice House since they first opened in April of 2024. I sat own with Massimo Vozza, the visionary behind Etna Slice House, in July of 2024 for a chat about his pizza history and how he got to Etna Slice House. He talked about growing the business in Etna and possibly expanding to make Neapolitan pizza.
In December the Etna Slice House got a new oven. This was a massive investment that opened up the opportunity to expand the menu and improve the fundamentals. At the time, Massimo said, “It really opens our our horizons of what we can produce in such a small space and bring to the public, you know, a higher quality product then your average football pizza. We're really like an artisan style pizza and we want to bring out that true quality and flavor to the to the public here.”
Now all that potential has evaporated like the moisture off a wet mozzarella sizzling in the oven. I reached out to Massimo to understand what happened. There’s a few factors here that lead to the cratering of the Etna Slice House.
First, the business is technically owned by The Rear End LLC. The Rear End Gastropub is located on the same block as the Etna Slice House and they’ve funded this venture.
This isn’t their first foray into pizza. In March of 2023 the same owners (The Rear End LLC) opened up Pie Hole Pizza in Etna. This took over the ancient Amato’s pizza that survived there for years. My dad got me a gift card to this spot, but they went out of business before I was able to redeem it. The ovens were fickle and the pizza looked average. It didn’t have the juice.
When Pie Hole Pizza shutdown, Massimo got the opportunity to take over with the backing of The Rear End LLC. Etna Slice House opened up with Massimo at the helm with the freedom to do his thing.
Secondly, what happened today is that the owners wanted more control over the business. “Basically they wanted me to teach them the business and how to make the pizzas and everything,” Massimo said. “When I told them no and I wanted to buy in his ownership they rejected my offer.”
It was Massimo’s recipes, talent and technique that made Etna Slice House worth the trip the Etna. The pizza community has been bubbling with excitement at the growth at Etna Slice House. A friend of mine recently visited Etna Slice House yesterday and regretted only getting two large pizzas instead of three. Once you have the Etna Slice House it’s hard to have anything else.
But Massimo believes too much in himself to compromise. “I just thought it was a good idea. for me to step away,” Massimo said. “Again, no, shame on them, you know, they they did all they did to support me, you know, grow out the space and everything financially, and they did a good job. However, when it came up to me giving away my my product and what I believe in and stuff, you know, I just had to walk away to protect myself.”
An Outpouring of Pizza Support
It’s doubtful this will be the last you hear from Massimo Vozza. The guy knows how to make pizza and has trained with the best in the city. From working at Mercurio’s to Iron Born, he’s going to land somewhere. And the pizza community has his back.
On his goodbye post there’s comments from all over the pizza community asking how they can help and urging him to stay the course. Award winning pizza maker and possibly the nicest guy in the biz, Ed Stalewski (EddiePizza412), said “This is not the end my brother I cannot wait to see what’s next for you my brother - I’m here for you man so let me know if you need anything 💪💪💪💪💪”
Gus Franco, Muns, Turrteni also offers support and encouragement. No one wants to see Massimo give up on his pizza dreams and the pizza community has his back.
When I first wrote about Etna Slice House I compared Massimo’s journey to the hero’s journey. Every hero must face an ordeal they overcome. Once they do we’ll see the return of the hero.
It’s an abrupt ending to a pizza fairy tale. But Massimo is standing up for what he believes in which takes courage and conviction. That’s becoming rare to find these days as billions fiddle with fundamental government institutions. Every man may have a price, but a pizza maker with passion is a flame you can’t easily snuff out.
What a bummer. While one pizza is eaten, the dough for a greater pizza is fermenting in the fridge. A classic pizza saying. Excited to see where Massimo ends up next.
Thanks to everyone that reached out about this critical news and extra thanks to the Pittsburgh Subreddit for their support of my pizza journalism.
Pizza ya later!
-Dan Tallarico, Pizza Journalist
This is a great article and a sad day for pizza! I can't wait to see what Massimo does next. I'll happily support great pizza made by great people.
This is great pizza journalism, Dan! Clearly the people want to know what's going on when the community loses something so delicious. Looking forward to Massimo's next adventure so I can finally taste some of that amazing looking 'za!