BEHIND THE GATES Villa Balsamo Hits The Market

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An undated advert regarding “The King Shutts Estate” indicates the property would to be shown only through appointment by J.B. White. Price for the complete property: $85,000.

In the mid-1970s, the property was purchased by Joseph Balsamo. Balsamo came to America in 1950 from Sorrento, Italy, served in the Merchant Marine, and was reportedly part-owner of a restaurant in Queens that stood half a mile north of Kennedy International Airport and half a mile east of Aqueduct Racetrack.

“When he saw this place, it took him a year of driving up here from Brooklyn once a week and waiting for the owner to come out to collect his mail,”

Ralphie Balsamo told Saratoga TODAY regarding his father’s efforts to purchase the estate.

The persistence paid off.

Joseph Balsamo, who died in 2018, successfully convinced the owner to sell, and soon after Villa Balsamo began its offering as a restaurant, showcasing the culinary talents of the family’s Southern Napolitan cooking.