TERRA DI DIO

STROMBOLI

A volcanic island off the coast of Italy and a gritty town at the end of the Philadelphia Airport will forever be linked. One is named Stromboli and the other is an Italian turnover stuffed with various meats and cheeses named the Stromboli.

"Why" and "Yum" you may ask?

"Serendipity" and "Chance" I say.

WHY SCANDAL?

Recently enamored with the beauty of Ingrid Bergman after a chance viewing of Casablanca at the Movie Tavern in Oaks, Pennsylvania, an interesting concept where wait staff bring you drinks and food during the viewing, the collective mind and palate of Team VFH soon savored Stromboli. That may seem to be quite a stretch, but Bergman later appeared in a film called Stromboli, directed by Roberto Rossellini in 1950. Considered one of the classics of Italian neorealism filmmaking, Stromboli was big news in the United States at that time, but not because of the craft of the film. Instead, Rossellini and Bergman carried on a well-documented and torrid love affair that started during the production and resulted in a child out of wedlock. She had left her husband and daughter and the moral outrage was stinging. They eventually married and had two other children, including the actress Isabella Rossellini, before divorcing in 1957.

THE MOVIE TAVERN

LIGHTHOUSE OF THE MEDITERRANEAN

Stromboli is an island just north of Sicily in the Tyrrhenian Sea and one of the three active volcanoes in Italy. Stromboli is quite active with constant minor eruptions that are often visible from the surrounding sea earning it the nickname the Lighthouse of the Mediterranean. In the movie Bergman is spirited there by a man she married to escape a post war internment camp and she doesn’t fit in with locals at all.

WHY YUM?

Yes the scandal surrounding Stromboli was big news in the United States and though Bergman’s career suffered for a while because of the moral backlash, an Essington restaurateur, Nazzereno Romano, known as Mr. Pizzeria, decided to cash in on the film’s notoriety. Romano had opened his pizzeria in Essington in 1944; a time when this now ubiquitous food was relatively new to the American tastebuds.. Romano had been experimenting with his turnover / sandwich and after perfecting his concoction capitalized on the global headlines and called it “STROMBOLI”.

Now, if the Stromboli was simply mediocre, it wouldn’t have legs. It was Romano’s combination of meats and cheese and peppers and a secret dough recipe that made it a hit. The often imitated but never duplicated Romano's Stromboli has become popular enough to be considered yet another Philadelphia delicacy. Yep, it's right up there with pretzels and cheese steak and the interesting back story has been featured on several television shows like Today and the Food Network. Today, Stromboli, like pizza, can be found anywhere, but it had it's start in Essington, Pennsylvania, at Romano's on Wanamaker Avenue.

SERENDIPITY AND CHANCE?.

I had never had a Stromboli before and never knew the history behind it. I knew Essington though because we park our car there when traveling from the Philadelphia airport and would never consider going there for something to eat. Turns out though honorary Team VFH members Jim and Maria were traveling to Essington just to eat at Romano's after having seen the Stromboli featured on a Food Network program and invited us along. The Stromboli were incredible. Truthfully I was not expecting much, but my "original" hot Stromboli featured a melange of meats, cheese and sweet and hot peppers encapsulated in an Italian bread thin yet crusty and it all worked. Our little group ordered different versions of Romano's Stromboli. Janet had a Philly cheese steak stromboli. As we ate we giggled at our good fortune to have found Romano's. It's still a little pizzeria despite the fame, with a few tables a lottery machine and a friendly staff. The food lives up to the hype and it is worth a trip down to Essington.

WE ARE PLEASED TO SERVE YOU
In fact, the restaurant's proximity to the airport has helped the notoriety of Romano's original version of the Stromboli get spread across the country. Often travelers or flight crews stop by for their "fix" or purchase frozen Stromboli to be savored later at home and they also ship their product everywhere! Janet and I will now make Romano's a regular stopover in our travels in and out of Philadelphia Airport. 

ROMANO'S ESSINGTON

LAND OF GOD
Of course, there are plenty of things to do in Essington Pennsylvania and you don't have to limit a visit there just to eat Stromboli or park the car for the airport. Essington’s fame is not just related to the Stromboli. For example, one can still walk the grounds of the Philadelphia Lazaretto quarantine hospital now on the National Register of Historic Places just a block away from Romano's. Predating Ellis Island in New York harbor, the Philadelphia Lazaretto Hospital was built in 1799 in reaction to a devastating Yellow Fever Epidemic that killed 10 percent of Philadelphia's population.
THE PHILADELPHIA LAZARETTO

If Typhoid fever or leprosy aren't on your to-do list or you'd rather work off your Stromboli with a hike rather than purging you could visit the nearby John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge for a hike, rent a canoe or fish; although it's recommended that you limit your consumption to the Stromboli and not fish plucked from the waters.

John Heinz is America's first urban refuge, established in 1972 and part of the Tinicum Marsh, the largest freshwater wetlands in Pennsylvania. There are 10 miles of hiking trails and several observation blinds and other activities like canoeing and kayaking available within the refuge. Some points of interest seen while one merrily, merrily, merrily ply the waters are according to the official NWS website: The Sun Oil Company Tank farm, the now defunct Delaware County Sewer Treatment plant and the Folcroft Landfill, now thankfully retired and capped and monitored for leakage.  
JOHN HEINZ NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE

Team VFH may limit their vacationing to Essington with frequent visits to Romano's. Thanks for reading!