When I call Giovanni Lanzo to discuss the legacy of his father, Luigi Lanzo, founder of South Park Slope’s beloved Luigi’s Pizza and an exemplar of hard work and human decency, our conversation is interrupted at intervals by customers, all of whom Giovanni seems to know by name, and devastated well-wishers, who have spotted the memorial of roses and candles outside of the front door.

“Thank you, thank you,” says Lanzo, in a rich New York accent, speaking to a man with emotion in his voice. “Yes, yes. He’s with my mother now.” Luigi Lanzo passed away June 14 at the age of 88. The neighborhood is just finding out, in part thanks to the makeshift shrine at the Fifth Avenue storefront.