{"id":187012,"date":"2026-04-06T11:42:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T11:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/187012\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T11:42:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T11:42:16","slug":"owner-of-beloved-pizza-institution-still-recovering-from-fire-hospitalized","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/187012\/","title":{"rendered":"Owner of beloved pizza institution, still recovering from fire, hospitalized"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"2JOUHZO7GRHOXGSQBGEMKLJOX4\">The family of New Jersey pizza icon Al Santillo is asking for support after a serious medical emergency. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"AALUWEZF3FHW3N3ZWN44SG3F6U\">A statement posted to Facebook on Sunday revealed that Santillo, the beloved owner of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nj.com\/food\/2023\/07\/njcom-pizza-trail-stop-5-a-mythical-oven-and-100-years-of-pizza-legend.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Santillo\u2019s Brick Oven Pizza<\/a> in Elizabeth, was in the hospital after suffering a stroke. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"S3WQUF4PN5AMBCHEGDRQ5YTP5E\">The statement asks to \u201cplease send him all the prayers and positivity you can!\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"VPAC2CQWAFENVKBN2HHWYFVEVY\">The heartbreaking news comes as the pizzeria had been planning a highly-anticipated reopening. It has been closed since January 2024 when a fire heavily damaged the building. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"T6QDPUXOXJDLHLM4GPCMR4FRRQ\">However, Santillo has pledged to rebuild the revered pizza destination, which is more than 100 years old. The community has also rallied around the prominent pizza owner.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"U7PBIRDRARBCVG5IH6GHHB3PRE\">Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy donated the proceeds of his 2024 <a href=\"https:\/\/onebitepizzafest.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">One Bite Pizza Festival<\/a> to Santillo to support the rebuild and also organized a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/rebuild-santillos-a-pizza-icons-return?lid=6cu29l31m2qr&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=product&amp;utm_campaign=p_email%2B4904-welcome-wp-v5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/rebuild-santillos-a-pizza-icons-return?lid=6cu29l31m2qr&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=product&amp;utm_campaign=p_email%2B4904-welcome-wp-v5\">GoFundMe <\/a>to help with costs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"KX7F4YVQ45EU3BVWTZJL4AYN3E\">Santillo spent some time making pies at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nj.com\/food\/2024\/01\/after-horrific-fire-owner-of-santillos-pizza-is-tossing-pies-in-morristown-on-sunday.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Coniglio\u2019s Old Fashioned<\/a> on Sundays.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"4GHXSUNH2VDEJMNOAI5CTOEU4Q\">A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/3621237191476015\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Santillo\u2019s Volunteers<\/a> Facebook group was also created to connect those looking to lend a hand in the rebuild process.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"HE5MJYQOUFFNVHW5Q7IQRVLRVI\">While it\u2019s still unclear when the pizzeria will reopen, those craving Santillo\u2019s can get their fix \u2014 even if they don\u2019t live in New Jersey.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"NZK4URFO7FABJGC7AH74KABSGA\">In September 2025, the pizzeria signed a contract with online marketplace <a href=\"https:\/\/go.skimresources.com\/?id=126006X1587338&amp;xs=1&amp;xcust=xid:fr1775438582723gjf&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.goldbelly.com%2F\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Goldbelly<\/a> to sell the iconic Santillo\u2019s pizza across the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The family of New Jersey pizza icon Al Santillo is asking for support after a serious medical emergency.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187013,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-187012","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187012\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}