Lombardi's claim as America's first pizzeria

Lombardi's, at 32 Spring Street, opened commercially as a pizzeria in 1905 and is often cited as the first licensed pizzeria in the United States; the founder Gennaro Lombardi is documented as selling pizza to Italian immigrant communities in Manhattan's Little Italy. The claim that Lombardi's is the nation's first pizzeria is widely repeated in culinary histories, though some scholars note competing claims and continuity issues over the decades. Lombardi's remains referenced in accounts of New York's pizza history and Italian immigrant food culture.