“An important piece of Chicago food history sits at the heart of one of the city’s trendiest neighborhoods, surrounded by modern condos, interior design boutiques and hip restaurants. Even if you’ve passed it numerous times, you may not know its history — though the well-worn ‘Prime Meats’ sign hanging from the three-story brick building on Wells Street offers a hint.

“Anichini Brothers, 545 N. Wells St., started 100 years ago as a small corner grocery and butcher shop and is the city’s leading Italian sausage maker, supplying many of Chicago’s well-known pizzerias.

“The family-owned and -run business is credited with creating a unique sausage for what has become a signature Chicago food: deep-dish pizza.

“Its story began in 1925, when brothers Silvio, Dino and Mario Anichini opened a grocery store on Illinois Street after emigrating from Lucca, Italy, five years earlier.

“They moved the store to the corner of Wells and Ohio streets, buying surrounding buildings in the process. In 1927, the newly opened Italian Village restaurant at 71 W. Monroe St. became one of Anichini’s first wholesale customers.

“As Anichini Brothers established itself as the go-to meat and sausage purveyor for the city’s Italian restaurants, a pivotal moment for the company came in 1943. That’s when Silvio Anichini sat down with the owners of Pizzeria Uno, Ike Sewell and Ric Riccardo, who were looking for a unique pork sausage for their new type of pizza, called deep-dish.

“The patty-like sausage Anichini developed turned out to be a perfect fit for what Sewell and Riccardo wanted.

“As deep-dish took off, so did the demand for Anichini’s sausages — ranging from Italian rope sausage with fennel to garlicky Italian pizza sausage by the bulk — with other pizzerias — including Lou Malnati’s, Giordano’s, Nancy’s and Pizzeria Due — becoming customers.

“‘We became part of Chicago with that,’ said Salvator ‘Mimo’ Gaddini, the company’s production manager. “That gourmet sausage created our two taglines: ‘Home of the Sausage That Made Chicago Pizza Famous’ and ‘The Secret Behind Chicago’s Legendary Pizza.’” (Shames, Block Club Chicago, 12/8/25)

Read the full story at Block Club Chicago

• This 100-Year-Old Chicago Sausage Maker Helped Put Deep-Dish Pizza On The Map; Brothers Silvio, Dino and Mario Anichini opened Anichini Brothers as a corner store in River North. Their big break came in 1943, when they developed the sausage patty for Pizzeria Uno’s new deep-dish pizza. Lisa Shames, Block Club Chicago, 12/8/25
• Anichini Brothers, 545 N. Wells St., A Chicago Legacy Business founded in 1925.