Mark Zuckerberg Loves Pinocchio’s, Like Any Former Harvard Square Dweller Would

Photo via AP

In case you missed it, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, are in New England this week as Zuck prepares to address the Harvard Class of 2017 on Thursday. Zuck’s been sharing every detail of their visit on Facebook, just like your aunt would.

Of course, the former Harvard students did what any would do while in Cambridge: They stopped for a Sicilian slice at Pinocchio’s.

“Almost every time he’s back in the area, he always pops in,” says Pinocchio’s owner Adam DiCenso. The second-generation proprietor, whose father and uncle opened the classic shop in 1966, definitely knows the Silicon Valley icon. Boston.com notes the shop has framed photos of the famous dropout and Chan hanging on the walls.

“He was in one of the Harvard houses that’s not far from the shop, and he used to come here quite often. We knew him by face, but not by name. But then he left, and a while later we saw him on the cover of a magazine, and we were like, ‘Oh my god, that’s the kid that used to come here all the time!’,” DiCenso says, laughing. “It’s kind of crazy. Kids who were just, quote, ‘regular students’ here go on to become CEO of this and CFO of that. It’s a neat bunch of people.”

Zuck has a standard order at Pinocchio’s, which DiCenso says he got again this week: a steak-and-cheese sub, plus a slice of Sicilian-style cheese pizza. Chan, who actually graduated from Harvard, and is also an alumna of Quincy High School, got a chicken parm sub, according to DiCenso.

Pinocchio’s Pizza & Subs, 74 Winthrop St., Harvard Square, Cambridge, 617-876-4897, pinocchiospizza.net.