experience dio + co.

The company was founded by Michael Dioguardi, a stone craftsman from Italy who immigrated to Rochester, Pennsylvania in 1930 and started his own monument firm four years later: Rome Monument. Rome Monument has now grown to be the parent-company of Dio + Co.

Michael Dioguardi worked as a memorial carver for the well-respected Pittsburgh, PA monument company, Campbell-Horigan, After his stay with Campbell-Horigan, Michael was employed by Marshall’s Monument Company located in Rochester, Pennsylvania. In 1934, Michael decided to venture out on his own and open his own monument firm in Rochester, PA, just two blocks down from his former employer, Marshall’s Monument Company. The company he built has been helping families since 1958.

In 2013, Rome Monument (Dio + Co's parent company) was proud to coordinate the design, placement, and engraving of the Tuskegee Airmen Monument located in the Sewickley Cemetery in Pennsylvania. The Tuskegee Airmen Memorial is the largest outdoor memorial in the country, honoring the first African-American military pilots and support staff who were members of the 332nd Fighter Group, nicknamed the “Red Tails.” Almost 100 members of the World War II unit were from Western Pennsylvania, and their names are carved on two of the four granite monuments that make up the memorial. The other two monuments contain the history of the elite military group and a 10-foot-high piece that features an airplane tail sculpted from red granite, representing the origin of the unit’s nickname.

We value the importance of giving back to local communities. In 2015, we volunteered our services to help clean 200 headstones that were defaced with red paint in Riverview Cemetery in Kiski Township. A local newspaper published a story titled "'Miracle' product undoes grave marker damage in Riverview Cemetery." "Before we came in, we weren't sure it was going to work,” said John Dioguardi, retired owner of the parent company, Rome Monument. “Everything we have ever used never worked this well...it's a miracle.”

In 2016, we continued to expand our operations and open new showrooms. Generations of families return time and time again to commission our company to design luxury monuments, memorials, gravestones and grave markers to commemorate their relatives and loved ones. We are a fourth-generation company creating personalized memorials and gravestones for families nationwide.  The current owners are Vince and Christy Dioguardi and Diane and William Hapach Jr., all of whom take a hands-on approach to running their business and who are leaders in the cemetery monument and memorial industry.