It may surprise you to learn that South Carolina's oldest restaurant is not located in South Carolina's oldest city.
In the heart of Columbia, only a few blocks from the Governor's Mansion, there's a restaurant that opened in the capital city in 1940. As the oldest restaurant in South Carolina, Villa Tronco has a truly incredible history, including being credited with turning the city on its heels upon introducing pizza to South Carolina.
Columbia's legendary Mama (Sadie) Tronco was born in 1901 and moved to Columbia with her family at the age of 9. Her father owned a fruit stand over on Gervais Street.
As fate would have it, WWII would bring the love of Sadie's life - James Tronco - to Camp Jackson (now Fort Jackson) as a medic. The two met at Sadie's father's fruit stand. They fell in love, got married, moved to James' hometown of Philadelphia for a while, started a family of four children and then moved back to Columbia and opened a fruit stand of their own on Main Street. They called it Iodine Fruit Stand. A few years later they opened a second fruit stand on Main Street.
(Camp Jackson South Carolina Sept 30, 1942.)During WWII Sadie started cooking some family meals for the Northern soldiers of Italian descent who were stationed at Fort Jackson. As it turned out, the boys were homesick for their mothers' cooking.
After a while the "friends and family" meals of spaghetti and meatballs for the soldiers evolved into simply closing one of the fruit stands and opening a restaurant on Blanding Street where the restaurant sits today. They named it Iodine Grill.
The restaurant's chef Mama Tronco is credited with introducing pizza to South Carolina.
What's more: in the beginning she reportedly had to give it away because no one wanted to buy it except the soldiers from up North. However, it wasn't long before people were lining up down the street for a slice of the pie.
Sadie "Mama" Tronco passed away in 1988 at the age of 87. She was still actively engaged in the restaurant, but by the time of her death the leadership baton had passed to the second generation and then on to the third generation of this Italian family. Today the 4th generation of this amazing family is involved in the restaurant. Sadie's great grandaughter, Carmelina, is now making Villa Tronco's famous cheesecakes using the old family recipe. Her brother Bonner is also involved in helping mom and dad, Carmella and Joe Roche (third generation) with the daily activities of running the oldest restaurant in South Carolina.
On August 6, 2016 Villa Tronco will mark 76 years in business. For a change, something that's known as "the oldest" in the state is in Columbia and not in Charleston.
Have you tried Villa Tronco yet? If you love authentic Italian then you'll love Villa Tronco.
Villa Tronco
1213 Blanding St.
Columbia, SC 29201
Not in or near Columbia but after reading this article you're craving Italian food so bad that you want it tonight? Here are 15 Italian Restaurants in South Carolina That'll Make Your Tastebuds Explode.
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