Diego and Jerusha Stefani are residents of Bridlewood and owners of the local and resident favorite, Giro Trattoria & Pizza. They also recently launched Diego’s Deli, located at the back of Giro Trattoria & Pizza.

Diego was born and raised in Milano, Italy while his wife, Jerusha was born in Southern California. They have two daughters, Olivia, 21, who is currently attending Belmont University as a junior with a major in songwriting and a minor in business music. Olivia also works as a part-time server at Giro in the summer and performs as a singer at Giro as well. Their youngest daughter, Amelia 15 is currently attending Marcus High School as a freshman and is a part-time hostess at Giro.

Diego graduated high school in Milano, Italy and went on to attend Brussels University in Belgium (in association with Boston University) to earn a degree in Business Economics. He has been in sales working in the HVAC industry for the past 35+ years. In 1996 he moved to the U.S. for the first time, to Evansville, IN as part of a career relocation program from Italy. During this adventurous time, Diego met his wife, Jerusha. They were married in 1999 and later relocated to southern CA, for a job with Johnson Controls. In 2014, the Stefanis moved to Texas to begin a new career opportunity for Diego as the Executive Director of Sales and Marketing (North America) for Olimpia Splendid, an Italian HVAC manufacturing company based in Brescia, Italy.

Diego tells us that he has always wanted to open a restaurant. To make the dream come true, he saw an opportunity arise when another restaurant closed just five minutes from their home in Bridlewood on Justin Road. He decided to team up with a lifelong friend to create Giro Pizza to bring his family recipes to the local community of Flower Mound. Diego informs that Giro Trattoria is a “truly authentic Italian cuisine with imported ingredients and a 'Taste of Italy' as I like to call it without the cost of airfare!” Giro Trattoria is designed like a typical family-owned restaurant with a rustic look and feel. They strive to cater to all types of customers from a cozy place for date night, to a family dinner, to kids' birthday parties. Diego reveals, “We even have customers that have been to Italy and tell me 'I never thought I would ever have Italian food like at Giro without having to go back to Italy!'" This type of feedback confirmed for Diego that he had achieved his goal! 

Giro Pizza was originally a concept that began in October 2019 with a concept of providing authentic Italian, "Roman Style" thin-crust pizza with what is called the "Giro Pizza", meaning “tour of pizza”, which was a set price menu to taste all 30 savory and 10 dessert pizzas to your heart’s content. Servers would be "touring" the dining room with all the pizzas and providing customers slices of all the flavors. Similar to the Brazilian steakhouse concept, but only with savory and sweet pizzas. When COVID shut down Giro’s dining room in March 2020, Diego tells Stroll Bridlewood, “We were lucky since pizza is an ideal ‘to-go’ food loved by millions. That allowed us to regroup, and add new items to the menu such as the ‘Pizza Party Pack’, for the family with children not attending school. This included four dough balls, cheese, sauce, three veggies and three types of meat so customers could make their own pizzas! This was a huge hit with our customers and we still offer it today. We also expanded our menu during COVID and added 'Family Meals'. When we were allowed to reopen our dining room slowly, we launched new menu items such as appetizers (homemade meatballs - my Nonna's recipe) arancini (fried risotto balls), added over fifteen pasta dishes including our handmade ravioli and gnocchi, and signature dishes such as our "Spaghetti Lasagna" with homemade bolognese meat sauce.” Diego goes on to explain, “Eventually, customers would tell us that since we were more than just pizza, we should consider changing the name...so in early 2022 we changed it to Giro Trattoria & Pizza (meaning small, family-owned restaurant).” 

In late 2022, the Stefanis decided to add an authentic Italian deli (Diego's Deli) in the rear of the restaurant where they offer authentic Italian panini and have over forty imported meats and cheeses from Italy and parts of Europe. They have become well known for their meat and cheese boards (or “tagliere,” in Italian) where customers can come to the deli, sample any deli meat and cheese and customize their “tagliere board”. This, especially during the holidays, has become a great crowd-pleaser!

Some additional, exciting events that Giro Trattoria has to offer include a five-course “Taste of Italy ''wine dinner. Diego brings in a 35-year executive chef from Bari, Italy and hosts a wine pairing where they offer foods and wines from all over Italy. This is what they call the “Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy) Wine Dinners”. Diego explains, “These events typically sell out, have live music, and provide 'edutainment', where we educate and entertain our guests with the food and wine flavors of my country.” 

Another fun perk Giro has to offer is a popular event known as, “Cars & Cappuccinos.” Every 60-90 days Diego opens the restaurant early on Sundays for their famous "Breakfast Pizzas”, authentic Italian pastries, and Lavazza coffee drinks. These events allow locals to not only enjoy a Sunday breakfast but to check out everything "cars"…from exotic imports like Lamborghini, Ferrari, Maserati, and Porsche to a bunch of American classic cars and trucks. Giro has over forty cars at these events and it has caused customers to ask them to open for breakfast and coffee regularly...Diego tells us to stay tuned for a possible announcement soon!

Giro Trattoria also offers authentic Italian catering for all types of events, where customers can customize a menu to include their favorite foods from Giro as well as meet their budgetary requirements. Diego informs us, “We are huge with the kids in that we provide all kids a pizza dough ball for them to play with when they come to Giro and we have a Kids Menu which is perfect for every child, including an 8" pizza (cheese, pepperoni and sausage), kids drink and a scoop of any of our seven flavors of authentic Italian gelato”. Giro is also known for their amazing homemade Tiramisu (another family recipe) which many people claim to be the best they have ever had!

Some distinctions that Giro Trattoria has received since its inception, include being nominated as a top three finalist in 2020-2022 as the “Best in Denton County” in the categories of: “Best Family Dinner Restaurant,” “Best Italian Restaurant” and “Best Pizza”. They won "Best Pizza" in Denton County in 2021 and 2022! 

As far as what makes Giro Trattoria & Pizza unique from competitors in the area...may we start by saying that the owner is a neighbor of Bridlewood and there is nothing like supporting a local, resident-owned business! Besides this though, we can vouch for the claim that the authenticity of Giro Trattoria goes unmatched. From being owned and operated by a born and bred Italian, to the imported ingredients to the family recipes straight from Diego’s family and hometown in Italy, we can assure that it doesn’t get more real nor more delicious than Giro Trattoria in the state of Texas. 

Some key staff members that Diego would like to shout out, includes his wife, Jerusha along with his manager, Ronn. Diego confesses, “My wife Jerusha runs the restaurant's day-to-day operations along with our manager Ronn Graham. I am simply the owner and the Italian face of the restaurant.”

As far as their involvement in the community, Diego reveals, “We support local as much as we can and have sponsored the Marcus High School Basketball and Water Polo teams, the Marquettes Cheer Team, the Marcus Choir and Theater programs and supported Flower Mound High School events as well. We have worked with Downing Middle School, Bridlewood Elementary School and other schools in the Flower Mound area. We have also partnered with other local restaurants that are family-owned like Hillside Fine Grill, Flurry's Market, Delhi 6 and Istanbul Cuisine where we offer gift card packages to promote not only Giro Trattoria but also my fellow restaurateur friends in getting my customers to try their restaurants as well as their customers to try Giro.”

Diego expounds on what this community has meant to him through his journey of chasing a dream. He acknowledges, “The restaurant business is a tough one and even tougher for a new family restaurant like Giro. Then only five months later it was shut down by the Covid pandemic. BUT WE SURVIVED because we have the BEST and most LOYAL customers, with whom I have made great friendships. We are big on 'supporting local' and hope all of our local Bridlewood neighbors will come to Giro Trattoria and give our ‘Taste of Italy’ experience a try. I assure you they won't be disappointed and will spread the word and come back for more!” 

Diego and his family are valued members at the heart of the Bridlewood and Flower Mound community. Diego expresses, "I have lived in many places around Europe and the U.S. but Texas just feels like home and we love the Bridlewood and Flower Mound Communities! We hope you will come to know and love their family restaurant as many of us have already!

Giro Trattoria and Pizza Located is at 3711 Justin Road, Suite 100, in Flower Mound TX and is open for business Tuesday through Saturday for lunch and dinner. Diego’s Deli is located at the back of Giro and is open Tuesday through Sunday 11 AM – 6 PM. 

You can connect with Giro Trattoria below or scan the QR codes below to place an online order with Giro's or Diego's Deli!

Website: www.giropizzatx.com

Email: giropizzatx@gmail.com

Phone: 951-534-8901

Instagram: @GiroPizza