Love, War & Stuffed Pizza

Marisa Palese immigrated to the United States from Southern Italy at the age of thirteen. In 1971, her family's life changed forever when her father, Rocco Palese, invented stuffed pizza and launched Nancy's, a Chicago pizzeria chain named after her mother, Annunziata (Nancy). From an early age, Marisa was part of her family's journey through the American Dream. She witnessed its extraordinary promise, but also the heartbreak, betrayal, family turmoil, and devastating circumstances that eventually changed the course of their lives. As a young immigrant woman, she found herself standing in the middle of that struggle, trying to help protect what her family had built. For many years, Marisa carried the pain of being laughed at, dismissed, and degraded. But instead of allowing those experiences to define her, she allowed them to make her stronger. The people who hurt her taught her lessons, while the good people she encountered along the way helped her remain strong. Through it all, she learned that your greatest champion and cheerleader can be yourself—and that every accomplishment, big or small, deserves to be celebrated. She decided to write this book because there were things left unsaid and moments that could never be recovered. She wanted to give her family something they could hold onto, something that might allow them to look back and smile and say, "We made it after all." This book is an expression of Marisa's love for her parents and siblings and of the grief she carried for the life her family never got to have in the way they deserved. It is also her way of finally giving a voice to the things that, in the middle of chaos, so often go unheard.