Photo via Famous Luigi’s Facebook page.

Sad news for pizza-loving Washingtonians: Famous Luigi’s, the venerable Dupont Circle pizzeria, has closed after 70 years of business.

According to a release, the famed family-owned restaurant served its last meal this past Saturday and closed up shop for good. Owner Deborah Bruzzo—the grand niece of Famous Luigi’s founder, Luigi Calvi—will retire from the restaurant business and write a book about her family’s history. That history, of course, relates to the beginnings of Famous Luigi’s—first opened in 1943 by Calvi—which is credited for introducing pizza to the District.

But Luigi’s almost didn’t last this long. As the Post reports, when Calvi died in 1961, the restaurant was passed down to his niece and her husband, who originally planned to sell it.

Famous Luigi’s almost didn’t make it past 1961, when its founder died. The restaurant was passed down to a niece, Maddelena, who lived in Genoa at the time. She was engaged to a man named Corrado Bruzzo. The young couple decided to come to America, run the restaurant for a while to pay off debts, then sell it and go back to Italy. But then, Deborah Bruzzo said, her parents saw the great potential of the place.

Though Famous Luigi’s—located on 19th Street near Dupont Circle—will no longer be around, the Calvi’s legacy will continue in Osteria Marzano—a new restaurant opened this past summer in Alexandria by Elena Bruzzo Pouchelon, Deborah Bruzzo’s daughter.

Still, this is a big blow for legendary D.C. restaurants, which are few and far between these days.