The owner of Roma Market in Pasadena arrives at 4:30 a.m. and works until 8:30 p.m., seven days a week. “This is my life,” he says on a recent morning, sitting in a chair opposite the entrance.

7.9. Ferrazzani’s Pasta & Market. While we'll forever adore the timeless classic that is Roma Market, the best Italian deli sandwich in Pasadena these days comes from this tiny pasta shop and ...

Roma Market. Open since 1946, this modest shop is renowned for its simple and satisfying sandwich prowess. Locals know to head to Roma for The Sandwich: ... Pasadena Fish Market ...

Roma Market in Pasadena is known for “the sandwich,” seen here doctored with fresh mozzarella, basil and red cherry peppers bought at the Italian market.

However, the heart of Roma Market is 83-year-old Rosario Mazzeo, ... Another Pasadena mainstay on Washington Blvd., just a few blocks from Burrito Express.

Mazzeo, 76, is the owner of Roma Market in Pasadena, an Italian grocery and deli of the classic sort. A native of Sicily, Mazzeo came to the U.S. in 1950 to work alongside his uncle at the market.

Sixty years is a long time without a vacation. Mazzeo’s uncle opened the Roma Italian-American Grocery in Alhambra in the early 1950s, relocating it to Lake Avenue in Pasadena in 1953.