The motto “a team effort” never rang truer than through the evolution of Piesanos Stone Fired Pizza.

Co-owner Joel Mills, originally of Staten Island, moved to Florida in 1994 to hone his skills as a maker of quality pizza & Italian dishes.

In 2000 Joel and his wife Rebecca, opened Italian Gator Pizza by the Slice to feed a hungry group of University of Florida students & faculty.

This quick-service restaurant laid groundwork for Joel’s eventual 2009 collaboration with Michael & Melissa Akey and Laure Young, three extensively experienced full-service restaurateurs. Mike, Melissa & Laure’s background in fine-dining combined with Joel’s take out experience created the framework through which the flagship Piesanos restaurant in Gainesville was born. Boasting full-service dine-in, catering & an attached express take-out center, Piesanos quickly established itself as a quality dining experience offering authentic Italian meals.

In 2014, Piesanos opened its third location. This continued success led to Jerry and Sabrina Roberts coming aboard in 2017, bringing considerable restaurant knowledge and a shared drive to grow the Piesanos Stone Fired Pizza brand. They opened the 4th location in 2017 in Ocala, and today, Piesanos now has 13 locations throughout central Florida.

This ambitious group of restaurateurs have maintained a recipe for success that has always stayed the same: fresh ingredients, dough & sauce made from scratch, the finest quality Grande® mozzarella, ricotta & romano cheeses, unique granite stone-fired ovens & a welcoming atmosphere. All of this combines to make Piesanos irresistible—it’s a place where you know you’ll be taken care of, and you know you’ll be coming back.