Fortunate is the pizza lover who lives in Tuscarawas County. For decades, area residents have had ready access to some of the best pizza around, thanks to the Italian immigrants who came here in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, bringing with them recipes from their home country.

Paul and Mary Penso opened the first pizza shop in Tuscarawas County ‒ and one of the first in Ohio ‒ in 1936 at their restaurant and grill on South Wooster Avenue in Dover. At that time, people didn't even know what pizza was. "Most people couldn't even say the word. You had to coach them," said their son, Andrew, 94.