Spending time in the kitchen comes naturally to Linda Girolamo.
She practically grew up at Pizzeria Napoletana, in Montreal’s Little Italy, after her father bought the restaurant in the late 1970s, from its previous owners.
Established 76 years ago, the pizzeria is believed to be the oldest in the city.
Girolamo says she always seeks new and inventive ideas for the business.
“We’ve been here since 1948 so now I said the sky’s the limit, where are we going next? We’re going to space,” said Girolamo.
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Lately, Girolamo was approached by George Defo, a family friend and Concordia University student, who’s part of Space Concordia’s rocketry division.
For years, a large team has been working on the Starsailor project with the aim of constructing and launching a liquid-propelled rocket to space.
But with a limited budget, the team is always seeking funding.
Last year, Defo considered seeking help from the pizzeria.
“When I reached out to her and we sat down, she said yes of course,” recounted Defo. “She was ready to help and she provided us with financial aid.”
With the funds, the team was able to go to Ontario last summer and conduct two successful burn tests – a crucial step to preparing the rocket for launch in December.
“It would be the first launch to go to space from Canadian soil in 30 years so it’s also kind of a first in Canada,” said Nathan McDonald Fortier, Concordia University Student, who is one of the project’s team captains. “And also, liquid rockets are very uncommon in Canada.”
In return for the funding, Girolamo says she wanted the pizzeria to be part of the historic event.
So she asked the team if they could send a portion of her pizza to space.
“I want to do something that we don’t particularly have on the menu,” she said.
The pizza will feature a dried red pepper from Puglia, among other delicious ingredients.
It’ll also be available in the restaurant in April for about a month, and available for takeout, before it hopefully successfully launches to space later this year.
It’s fittingly being called the rocket.
