Antico Pizza brings its Neapolitan-style pies to Tucker

The exterior of Antico Sporto in Tucker. / Courtesy of Branch Properties

Credit: Branch Properties

Credit: Branch Properties

The exterior of Antico Sporto in Tucker. / Courtesy of Branch Properties

The latest location of popular pizza eatery Antico is now open in Tucker.

Antico Pizza opened last week in the Hugh Howell Marketplace at 4650 Hugh Howell Road, joining the original Antico in Home Park and others at the Battery Atlanta at Truist Park and Avalon in Alpharetta.

The menu at the Tucker location consists of 10 Neapolitan-style pizzas and a handful of calzones, mirroring menus at other Antico locations. Neapolitan-style street sandwiches called panuozzo will be added by the end of the month for lunch. Options including calabrese, caprese and broccoli raab with sausage will be made with bread using Antico pizza dough and cooked in the pizza oven.

The 2,400-square-foot counter-service restaurant, which features a large patio in addition to indoor seating, also serves beer and wine and several desserts including tiramisu.

Margherita Pizza from Antico Pizza / Photo by Chris Hunt

Credit: Chris Hunt

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Credit: Chris Hunt

Owner and founder Giovanni Di Palma said he’d been wanting to scale up Antico’s operations for awhile, but wanted to ensure that the quality of the pizza wouldn’t suffer. Once he was able to take over the entirety of a massive commissary kitchen in West Midtown, he felt confident that he’d have the space and bandwidth to successfully expand.

He sees the new location as an “Antico express,” scaled down for a smaller community like Tucker. He hopes it will serve as a pilot location for future smaller versions of his pizzeria concept.

Giovanni Di Palma opened Antico Pizza in 2009 and has been a sensation ever since, with his corner of the Westside now called "Little Italia."
Courtesy of Giovanni Di Palma

Credit: Handout

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Credit: Handout

“The idea is not for us to own them,” he said. “We want to allow small business owners, especially minorities and women, to be managing partners for these locations.”

In addition to Antico, Di Palma owns Gio Chicken Italiano, Caffe Antico and Bar Amalfi. He co-owns Italian sandwich shop Pane Antico with his son, Johnny.

The Publix-anchored Hugh Howell Marketplace, owned by Atlanta-based real estate investment and development firm Branch Properties, is also home to food and beverage concepts First Watch, Jersey Mike’s Subs and Buffalo Wild Wings GO. Pop-up turned brick-and-mortar Bite of Korea is slated to open there this month.

4650 Hugh Howell Road, Atlanta. littleitalia.com.

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