Our Story

Lino and Erica De Vivo, the new owners of La Nonna Bella have been waiting for the chance to own their own restaurant ever since they met, 13 years ago at an employee holiday party while working at a restaurant in New York. Shortly after their initial meeting they fell in love and moved to Italy to get married. In 1999 they moved to New York to start a family and pursue their dream of owning a restaurant together.

Lino was born and raised in Conversano Italy, in the region of Puglia. It is here that he completed culinary school and got his first taste of the business by working in local restaurants and later working in other areas of Italy. After coming to America in 1999 he struggled to find an authentic restaurant to work at as Erica was also working in various restaurants and different specialty stores. While Lino was searching for a great place to work he fell upon Cafe Girasole in East Norwich, NY where he worked with an Italian chef Franco Castelli for 10 years. Then in 2008 Cafe Girasole came under new ownership and Lino moved on to La Nonna Bella with original owner Anna Maola. After 2 years of working with Anna, she decided to sell the business and let Lino have his first chance. A very special friend who is a known veteran of the restaurant business decided to give Lino and erica this very special opportunity and became the DeVivo's partner. Together as the new owners, they have but all their expertise together to make La Nonna Bella the best it can be. Lino is excited to bring his new ideas and authenticity to the restaurant while still keeping some of the original menu favorites. Franco Castelli has joined the culinary team and together with Lino they aim to bring real Italian cuisine to the customers using the freshest and finest ingredients and making every dish to order in the moment.

Lino and Erica are excited that their dream has come true and they will continue to visit Italy every year to bring back all of the country's newest culinary trends.