Our Story
How a Bardstown Road butcher shop became Louisville's favorite pizza.
Every Impellizzeri's pizza still follows the recipe Benny Impellizzeri worked out on Bardstown Road in 1979: two layers of toppings, two layers of cheese, and only the finest and freshest ingredients.
Louisville calls it "Louisville Style Pizza" — we just call it the only way to make one.
- 1979
- Opened on Bardstown Rd
- 4
- Locations
The Road Here
1968
It starts at Mario’s
Benny Impellizzeri gets his start in the pizza business at Mario’s, in Louisville’s Hikes Point neighborhood.
1971
Fun City Pizza
Benny moves to Fun City Pizza, where he helps introduce fresh breadsticks and Sicilian-style pizza to Louisville.
1978
A butcher shop on Bardstown Road
Benny’s father, a butcher by trade, leases the former Mr. A’s pizza location on Bardstown Road.
1979
The Original Impellizzeri’s
Benny runs the pizza shop by night while his father runs the butcher counter by day. Pizza wins out, his father retires from the meat business, and Benny builds every pie with two layers of toppings and two layers of cheese — the start of what Louisville would come to call "Louisville Style Pizza."
2005
The original Highlands shop closes
By now a neighborhood landmark with a loyal, sometimes famous, following, the original Highlands location closes its doors.
2007
Back on Bardstown Road
Benny reopens on Bardstown Road in July, this time with a longtime friend as his partner.
Today
Four locations, one recipe
Impellizzeri’s now serves Highlands, Holiday Manor, Middletown, and Elizabethtown — every location still building pizza the same way Benny did in 1979.