To paraphrase an old saying, you can't swing a cat in Syracuse without hitting an Italian restaurant. Decades of Italian immigration to the area resulted in an abundance of Italian and Italian-American restaurants throughout the city. Many are good and a few are excellent. Others are not.

So, when John Vigliotti announced that Peppino's Neopolitan, his Armory Square pizzeria, would evolve into a more upscale Italian restaurant, the question was how it would set itself apart from the rest.