Don’t expect to get mango-salsa pizza or one with a hot dog-stuffed crust at De Pere newest pizza joint. The owners of Strada Pizzeria, 109 N. Broadway, focus on the kind of pizza found in southern Italy: an old-world recipe based on simple ingredients sourced locally, whenever possible, and direct from Italy when not.

As former residents of “bel paese,”(Italy) Andy and Sofia Auricchio Krans know something about what makes a good pizza. “Our pizza is simple – you aren’t going to get pineapple pizza,” said Andy Krans. “We aren’t going to let people add stuff to their pizza – it’s not Burger King.” Sofia is a fifth-generation cheesemaker, and her father, Errico Auricchio, founded BelGioioso Cheese, Strada’s cheese of choice. Her family came to the U.S. in 1979.