Pizzeria VillaFranca: A Family's Taste of Italy

Pizzeria Villa Franca, at 5 Center St., is a new restaurant with old world charm. Its foundation is strong, built on tight family values and traditions. Opening the doors in December of 2009, the Pizzeria has been doing a good business by providing authentic Italian fare to Burlington residents.

On the wall of the restaurant is a framed account, a brief history of the Sacca family. It tells about their grandmother who used to make pizza in Villa Franca, Sicily years ago and the wonderful smells of the kitchen that brought the family together in the Sacca home.  Recipes have been handed down from the great grandparents on down to the children and grandchildren.

Dana and Joe Sacca run the Pizzeria along with their father Jimmy Sacca, who is the brains of the business, according to Dana. There’s much to do during the day from ordering supplies and food items that are needed to keeping up with the regular cleaning to the actual preparation and cooking that must be done on a timely basis.

"We put in 15 hours a days," said Sacca, "which can be trying at times but it’s good having family support on a regular basis."

Sacca’s parents had a pizza restaurant in the 80’s and 90’s eventually selling it to go into the construction business. Their talents in construction came in handy when they found the location at 5 Center St. and had to gut it and renovate, turning it into the present Pizzeria VillaFranca.

“We saved a lot of money doing the work ourselves,” stated Sacca.

Working as a family unit and taking advantage of Sacca’s parents experience in the restaurant business greatly benefits the pizza restaurant and is an appropriate tribute to the memory of the great grandparents of Sicily who were an inspiration as well as source for recipes and cooking methods. The support system is incredible.

Dana Sacca was in construction and real estate before the opening of the Pizzeria. His older brother stayed in the construction business; Sacca and his other brother, Joe, work in the Pizzeria full time. Sacca also works in real estate as an agent with Vidoli & Assoc. in Burlington. Real estate is something I like doing, he says.

Walking into the Pizzeria Villa Franca montages of photos line the walls under the counter. An assortment of photos dating from the 50’s and 60’s are arranged together. They show various family members and friends posed together. Photos of weddings and other special occasions as well as everyday gatherings are included in the group. One large poster is called, “American Woman in Italy, 1951”. It’s unrelated to the snapshot type montage but gets across the flavor of Italy as do the photos in the montage. All photos were put together by relatives and friends.

The Pizzeria Villa Franca will be expanding to the empty space next door this month. The expansion is almost complete and will give the restaurant a 49 seat capacity. They are in the process of hiring more employees and testing the new menu which will include beer and wine. The same traditional favorites will still be offered: pizza, Italian specialties and seafood.

“We’ll be doing a dry run,” says Sacca, “to make sure everything runs smoothly when we open the new space for business.”