Our Story
The Piccinonna Legacy: First Generation
Giulio Piccinonna — From Bari to Brooklyn, Where the Legacy Began
The first chapter in a four-part series tracing the Piccinonna family’s journey through four generations of hard work, hauling, entrepreneurship, and family.
Every family legacy has a beginning. For the Piccinonna family, ours began long before Great Waste, long before roll-off containers and even long before garbage trucks. It began with an immigrant from the Bari region of Italy named Giulio Piccinonna.
Giulio came to America and settled in Brooklyn, New York, bringing with him little more than the determination to build a life for himself and his family. His work would unknowingly establish the foundation of a family business story that would continue for four generations.
The Ice Man
Giulio worked as an ice man during a time when refrigerators were not yet common in American homes. Families and businesses relied on large blocks of ice to keep food cold inside their iceboxes, and those blocks had to be delivered regularly. Giulio made those deliveries using horses and flatbed wagons throughout the streets of Brooklyn.
It was physical work. It meant early mornings, long days and dependable routes. Most importantly, it meant people were counting on him. If Giulio did not show up, a customer did not simply miss a delivery. Families and businesses could lose the food they depended on. Long before our family would describe customer service as one of our core values, Giulio was already living it.
You showed up. You worked hard. And when someone depended on you, you kept your word. Those principles would eventually travel much farther than his horse and wagon ever could.
When an Industry Changed
Eventually, technology began changing the world around him. Electric refrigerators started replacing traditional household iceboxes, and the demand for ice delivery began to decline. The business Giulio knew was changing. But instead of allowing change to end the family story, the Piccinonnas adapted. The horses were still there, the wagons were still there, the routes were still there, and the willingness to work was certainly still there.
Over time, the same equipment and work ethic used to deliver ice could be used to move other things — coal, materials, debris and eventually waste. The cargo changed, the opportunity changed, but the work ethic remained. That ability to adapt would become one of the most important themes in the Piccinonna family’s history.
The Beginning of Something Much Bigger
Giulio could never have known where that horse and wagon would eventually lead. He could not have imagined large fleets of trucks, roll-off containers, construction sites, South Florida operations or great-granddaughters working in the same industry generations later.
But the principles that began with him are still recognizable today.
Hard work, Dependability, Pride, Perseverance and taking care of the people who depend on you.
The Piccinonna family legacy did not begin with garbage. It began with service. And eventually, Giulio’s son would take what his father started and turn hauling into a true family business.
NEXT IN THE PICCINONNA LEGACY
Part Two: Joseph Frank Piccinonna — Turning a Way of Life Into a Family Business