In search of the American Dream, their family immigrated to Tampa in 1904 from the village of Santo Stefano Quisquina, Sicily. Working as cigar rollers in Ybor City, they eventually saved enough to buy a plot of land and a few cows to start a dairy. The dairy grew and expanded exponentially and by the 1950s, it was one of the largest dairy farms in the Southeastern United States. Harnessing the entrepreneurial spirit of our forefathers, they started in the real estate business in 1953 by developing and leasing multifamily buildings on Davis Islands and gas stations around Tampa and central Florida.