Royal Pastry Shop was established in East Cambridge, MA in 1941 by Vincenzo and Ninetta Coppola. Vincenzo was born in Humrun, Malta but was of Sicilian descent. Vincenzo immigrated to the U.S. in 1925.  He worked in his uncle’s pastry shop in Boston’s Historic North End.  After a few years, he relocated to a strong Italian community in Hartford, CT and worked at an Italian Pastry Shop. While living and working in this neighborhood he met and fell in love with, Ninetta Urso. Ninetta was born in Floridia, Sicily and immigrated to Hartford in 1920. They ended up getting married in Hartford, CT.

In 1941, they moved to Cambridge, MA and opened Royal Pastry Shop in East Cambridge. They successfully ran the business for twenty years before their twin sons, Salvatore and Ernest joined the business in 1960. Salvatore and Ernest opened a second location in historic Lexington, MA. As the years went by, Vincenzo and Ninetta’s granddaughter, Lisa and her husband Manuel, took over ownership of the Royal Pastry Shop locations.

In 1941, Royal Pastry Shop was an old-world Italian Pastry Shop.  Over the years, to keep up with customer demand,  it expanded to bake traditional American pastries, pies, and cakes. Italian rum cakes, cannoli, Italian cookies, and ricotta pies remain many family favorites. The Italian recipes are over a hundred years old!