Sam's Italian Deli has been a Fresno fixture since the Marziliano family arrived from Toronto
Fifty years on, the deli that grew out of a neighborhood grocery store is still family-run.
In 1976, the Marziliano family moved from Toronto to Fresno and opened Sam's Market, a neighborhood grocery store. According to the family's own account, the deli side of the business grew almost by accident: Angie Marziliano began cooking meals on a hot plate in the back of the market for the staff, and customers who caught the smell started asking if they could buy it too.
That demand became Sam's Italian Deli & Market. Nearly fifty years later, it's still built around the same formula — a full-service kitchen and deli counter, cured meats and imported cheeses sliced to order, house-made pasta, and a wine selection anchored by Nick's Wine Corner.
The business has stayed in the family throughout. Son Nick now manages day-to-day operations, while Angie and daughter Carmella still work the kitchen — a detail the family highlights as central to what's kept customers coming back across generations.
Sam's has become one of the go-to answers locals give when asked where to find a proper Italian sandwich in Fresno, a reputation built less on reinvention than on consistency: the same family, largely the same menu, for five decades running.