Giovanni Cannarsa cam to America from Termoli, Italy in 1909 - at the age of fourteen. Working on the railroad in New York state, he met Rosa Tonkery who lived on a nearby farm. After their marriage they settled in an Italian neighborhood in southwest Detroit. It was close to the Ford Rouge Complex, where Giovanni found his place in the land of opportunity.

It was this small neighborhood, unofficially called "Oakwood", that Giovanni and Rosa raised their children, Frances, Anthony, and Vincent.

After Giovanni passed away in 1967, Rosa Cannarsa, at the age of fifty-seven, added a new aspect to her life. With the help of her children, she established "Giovanni's Pizza Parlor" a mere fifty yards from the family home. It started out as a carry-out only until a dinning room was added in the early 1970's. Surviving those first critical years can only be attributed to Rosa's hard work and determination.

In 1979 she passed the torch to her daughter Frances, who, after raising three sons needed a new outlet for her endless energy and creativity. Frances then discovered the real key to success: doing what the family had been doing for decades. A change of name to "Giovanni's Ristorante" was only the beginning.

Walking into Giovanni's today is not much different than it was being in the Cannarsa home during any of their special family gatherings. The same comfortable, congenial, atmosphere makes even distant strangers feel at home. Family photographs and antiques are displayed just as they were in Rosa's own living room. And just like home, the kitchen buzzes with activity preparing Rosa's traditional dishes as well as an endless gourmet of specialties created by Frances, Randy and their special staff.

Today, Giovanni and Rosa's kitchen and dinning room are much larger. Their family, too, has expanded to the many friends who now enjoy what they have worked so hard to achieve.

Giovanni would have been proud to see how active his wife was until her death in 1995. In the 1960's they enjoyed watching people like Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Red Skelton on television. Little did Giovanni know that Frances and Rosa would one day host these and other celebrities. Yes, Giovanni would be proud of his family - maybe even as much as his family is proud of their heritage.