The "Tiff" and Carbone's Resturant

In "The Patch" section of Fitchburg in the 1940's there was a social club, the Pietraperzia Club (P.P. Club) for Italians that originated from the town Pietraperzia in Sicily.  The club funded such annual events as The Feast of the Madonna della Cava and other Feast Days.  To provide revenue to the club other than the annual dues the club sold pizza on weekends.  The way this was done in the early days was by members wives volunteering to cook each month.  Each month a different wife hosted the pizza kitchen which led to "The Tiff".

Anna (Imprescia) Carbone was an excellent cook and when it was her month to run the kitchen it was a sell out.  As time went on, it became evident that Anna's month was the most popular and other wives became jealous.  This boiled over when one of the wives confronted Anna and claimed she was telling people NOT to order pizza on nights when she was not working.  Anna was offended at the premise it was not her excellent pizza - but she was sabotaging others by turning people away.  The insult was too much and made Anna realize if they love my pizza when I volunteer at the P.P. Club - why won't they love it at my own restaurant?  

The idea for Carbone's Restaurant was born.

Carbone's 1950-1968

Located directly across the street from Whalom Amusement Park

So Anna was now determined to open her own restaurant.  Her husband Louie Carbone already ran a small grocery store on Second and Middle Street on the ground floor of the multi family home where they lived in with their two daughters Linda and Marie.  

Anna Imprescia and her younger brother Sam Imprescia
inside Carbone's Market on 2nd and Middle St.

So she convinced Louie they should open their own place and found an amazing location in Lunenburg directly across the street from Whalom Park and purchased it on February 9, 1950.  

Grand Opening Announcement
Fitchburg Sentinel March 31, 1950

The efforts and preparations all come to fruition on April 1st, 1950 when Carbone's Pizza first opened its doors.  Anna was 39 years old and Louie was 51 yeas old at the time.

Opening Day April 1950

The restaurant was a family event in the picture above from the left is Filippo and Filippa Imprescia (Anna's parents), Angela Russo (Anna's sister Palma's sister-in-law), daughter of Lewis Esposito (the man who sold them the restaurant), Mary Dantini (Anna's cousin),Anna Carbone, Louie Carbone, Connie (DiNatale) Imprescia (Anna's sister-in-law), Connie (Imprescia) Picolomini and Palma (Imprescia) Russo (both Anna's sisters).

Grandma Imprescia (Filippa) making the pizza

Dominic Imprescia enjoying meal a with family & Friends

The restaurant was a success from the start and became Anna and Louie's life for the next 18 years. The Sicilian style "square" pizza was a favorite - but the menu was much more than pizza - several home cooked food are listed in this menu - but I am not sure if this was from the 1950's or 1960's.

Click here for full Carbone's Spaghetti House Menu.  A few notable highlights:

• a strict 30 cent minimum per person
• Seafood plate with Scallops/Clams only $1.25, but the 1/2 chicken is $1.75
• Sandwich called "Steamroller"?
• Large tray pizza - 18 slices $3.50.  That would be a party pizza size today.
• Near Beer served.  Louie did not want to have beer/wine served to avoid problems

Some oddities I found:

Poster on wall near jukebox (1950)
"If your wife is a Bum Cook. Keep her for a pet and EAT HERE"

"Knives, Forks, Spoons, Ash Trays, Salt and Pepper Shakers are not medicine
Please Don't Take After Meal!"

Help wanted ad from 1966
"Middle-aged or older women preferred"

By the late 1960's, Louie's health was starting to fail and on November 13, 1968 the restaurant was sold.  But for anyone of a certain age that lived in the area during those years will fondly remember the best pizza and food "Made the way you like it".  Who would have know a tiff (as my grandmother called it) would lead to a way of life for the Carbone's and a restaurant legacy.

My last visit on October 31, 1968
(I was almost 3 years old)

The Five Connies

 Concetta Vinci (b:1817) my 3rd Great-Grandmother and was the mother of Dominic Imprescia (b:1849), so naturally when Dominic had his first born daughter, he honored his mother and named her Concetta (b: 1877).  Unfortunately,  Concetta died 11 months later in 1878.

As I detailed in an earlier post on Dominic and Anna Impresica and their 17 Children, Dominic and Anna had another daughter named Concetta (b:1889) that died 2 years later and a third daughter named Concetta (b: 1894) that tragically died in a factory accident at age 15.  So ALL three of Dominic and Anna's children that were named Concetta never made it to adulthood.

Anna (Viola) Imprescia and her daughter Concetta (circa 1908)

Dominic and Anna's son Filippo ("Phillip") (b:1880) also carried on the tradition with his first born child who was born 10 Sept 1909, almost a year to the day of Filippo's sister Concetta death (26 Aug 1908).  

Concetta Imprescia, first daughter of Filippo and Filippa (Siciliano) Imprescia (1909-1916)

Unfortunately, tragedy struck AGAIN in the Impresica family with the death of Concetta in 1916 at the age of 6 years old due to "valvular disease of the heart" according to her death certificate.  

My grandmother Anna (Imprescia) Carbone described it to me a little differently.  According to her, one day her big sister Concetta was crossing the street in "The Patch" (which was the nickname for the neighborhood where they lived in Fitchburg) and was almost hit by a motorcycle.  From that point on she aquired a "weak heart" and became sickly because she was so frightened by the near miss of the motorcycle it damaged her heart.  I guess the shock or surprise of the near death experience could have help identify there was a heart issue and I am sure there was no medical solution available in 1916.

Filippo and Filippa went on to have seven more children:

Anna (1911-2015) 

Palma (1913-2012)

Josephine (1914-2002)

Dominic (1918-2011)

Eleanor (1920-1921)

Samuel (1925-2022)

and lastly another daughter Concetta in 1926 who was the baby of the family.  This Concetta, or Connie lived a long life passing away at the age of 95 in 2022.

Connie (Imprescia) Piccolomini (1926-2022)

So it took almost 50 years from the first Concetta Imprescia to the last Connie (Imprescia) Piccolomini to break the bad luck of the Five Connies in the Imprescia family.

***Footnote:  Salvatore and Maria Vincenzo (Imprescia) Costa also had a daughter Connie (Costa) Consolo (1913 - 2002) who lived to 89 years old. So she would be the first to break the bad luck of the Imprescia’s - but she was born a Costa ❤

The Imprescia-Costa Family History Document - Fact or Fiction

I found an interesting family history document that was put together around 1984 and has some interesting stories of the family.  I am going to try to fact-check what was written based on all the information I have gathered and what records are available on-line.

But to start - here is the original.  Someone took the time (I would love to know the author) to research and type up this document on a typewriter, then photocopy and distribute to members of the family.  They must have went to all family members to get background to put together this labor of love.  I believe I got my copy from Anna (Imprescia) Carbone, my grandmother.  It is a great read, but look for future posts to provide some background and documentation on these stories since I already see some things that I suspect are not correct - so it will be fun to play detective and get the real story.

Here is a link or read below.