Pizza Lino owner Lino Rago cuts a ribbon to officially open his new pizza business in Chicopee at 42 Center St.
Reminder Publishing photo by Tyler Garnet
CHICOPEE — Pizza Lino and the city of Chicopee hosted a ribbon cutting event on Aug. 19 to officially introduce the new pizza shop at 42 Center St.
Owner Lino Rago was born in Italy and moved with his family to the United States when he was 9 years old. He grew up in New Jersey where he had more than one pizza business.
After getting married around a year ago to his wife who lived in Chicopee, he decided to sell his New Jersey pizza store and open a new place in the city.
Rago had a soft opening for Pizza Lino a few weeks before the official grand opening, and he said he has received so much support from the city, the mayor’s office, the building department and his landlord to help him open his new shop.
“It’s my first time in Massachusetts and I’ve been received extremely well,” Rago stated, “The people are treating me with great respect and they’re trying my pizza. I have a lot of traffic walking up and down the street. It’s a great spot to be in, Center Street in Chicopee, the center of town. I’m pleased with the outcome, with the turnout that I’ve had.”
Rago said his menu features “about seven or eight items” since the building is on the smaller size. He specializes in Sicilian and New York style pizza.
Pizza Lino is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday.
The menu can be found on Pizza Lino’s Facebook page. They offer pizza by the slice, calzones and garlic knots. There are gluten free items on the menu.
Rago provided samples of his pizza to the crowd of residents, elected officials, C3 Police Unit and neighbors.
He shared, “It really is a wonderful thing to know that the [city] itself is looking forward to small businesses. They’ve supported me well in these few weeks I’ve been here. The turnout today was fantastic.”
Mayor John Vieau was at the ribbon cutting ceremony to welcome Pizza Lino to the community and talk about another Center Street storefront being filled by a new business.
“I am going to officially welcome Pizza Lino to the Chicopee family and I’ll tell you what. [They] are joining downtown and what’s happening down here, you can talk to the stakeholders, there’s this renaissance happening. All the store fronts are filling up, people are coming downtown.”
Vieau also explained that although Pizza Lino is located on Center Street with mostly street parking, there is also a public parking lot that is available right across from Pizza Lino for guests to utilize.
Rago concluded with a message to the Chicopee residents. He said, “I welcome everyone. Please come and try my pizza. I think you’ll be very pleased with the way it tastes the way it does. That’s what I can offer. I’m from New Jersey and our traditional style of pizza may be slightly different than what we have here in Massachusetts, but if you give it a shot, I think you’ll be pleased.”
