Ambrosi & Sons Fine Foods & Wine will increase its visibility and accessibility in early March when it relocates its retail store and event venue to North Naples.
The local business is moving from the East Naples industrial park area where it has operated since 2020 to the adjoining spaces in the Galleria Shoppes at Vanderbilt where Naples Wine Collection and The Cave Bistro & Wine Bar operated until closing last year in Suites 602 and 604 at 2343 Vanderbilt Beach Road.
Ambrosi & Sons is converting the former Naples Wine Collection space into its new retail shop of wine and food products imported from Italy. The Cave’s former bistro and bar space next door will become The Grotto, which will be Ambrosi’s venue for wine tastings and wine dinners. Eventually, it may become a restaurant, as well.
Ambrosi & Sons Fine Foods & Wine is relocating to 2343 Vanderbilt Beach Road in North Naples, taking over former Naples Wine Collection and The Cave spaces at Galleria Shoppes at Vanderbilt.
Tim Aten
“The Grotto is ‘the cave’ in Italian. It looks like a cave,” said owner Rudy Ambrosi. “The restaurant idea is not going to happen for a while, maybe not ever. It’s a lot to undertake all at once. I’m more concerned with the store first and doing our thing and evolving. It’s going to roll out in phases.”
The Grotto’s wine tastings and wine dinners will be mostly private events offered through Ambrosi & Sons website and email contacts.
“So, that’s going to be just through our email lists, so people who get on our email lists can sign up for events or go to our website and find out about our events and sign up,” Ambrosi said. “It’s kind of a private club without having to pay tons of money to be part of it.”
The Cave’s existing wine lockers will be used for a new wine club. Changes will be made to create The Grotto.
Owner Rudy Ambrosi stands inside his wine shop as the family business prepares to relocate its retail store and launch The Grotto event space in North Naples.
Rudy Ambrosi
“We’re in the process of redoing that. It’s going to look different, but I don’t want to wait for everything to be ready all at once,” Ambrosi said. “I want to get the store going, and then we’re working on a new bar, new seating, new lighting — just redoing the space. It’s going to be updated and refreshed and restyled, but that stuff takes time.”
First to launch will be the new Ambrosi & Sons retail store of Italian imports that gives consumers an alternative to industrial, commercially processed foods. “The idea is small production, artisanal, family wineries, even family foods — low-intervention, natural-type products,” Ambrosi said. “No GMOs, no weird seed oils, just natural, old-fashioned small production type stuff, and that goes for the wine and the food.”
Packaged Italian pastas are part of Ambrosi & Sons’ growing inventory, with plans to expand offerings at its new North Naples location.
Tim Aten
Expect an expansion of wine products offered at the original store on Domestic Avenue.
“Right now, we have probably about 300 labels. We’re going to expand that some but still stick to the core value of our store, which is small production, sustainable production, no intervention type stuff,” Ambrosi said.
Bottled pasta sauces and other imported provisions reflect Ambrosi & Sons’ focus on natural, small-batch Italian products.
Tim Aten
For instance, not only is Ambrosi’s olive oil imported from a single country, it’s harvested from a single grove and bottled on that same land — “so, a completely different style of food than what you find at a big supermarket,” he said.
In addition to olive oil, the most popular imported food items include balsamic vinegar, cheeses, olives, pasta, pesto, tomatoes and wine. “We have a cannoli cream from Sicily made with sheep’s milk,” Ambrosi said. “At the new location, we’re going to expand our cheese selection, our deli meats. We’ll be able to have more of a selection.”
Ambrosi has been busy planning the transition of his businesses since Collier County government acquired his nearly 13,000-square-foot building in East Naples last fall. Since then, he has been in the midst of what he calls a never-ending move. The transaction allowed him to relocate his local businesses over the course of a couple of months. Ambrosi initially had plans in 2023 to open something similar at Bayfront in Naples, but those plans fell through.
Jars of Italian olives line the shelves at Ambrosi & Sons, which specializes in small-production, family-made foods imported directly from Italy.
Tim Aten
Since 1998 in East Naples, Ambrosi and his sons Alex and Michael had operated Pro-Edge Paper, a wholesale company supplying paper products to places such as restaurants, schools and country clubs. Meanwhile, the family’s import business expanded on what originally had been an enterprise focused on Sclafani imported Italian gourmet food products.
“I moved my Pro-Edge business into another location. The import business is at a logistics warehouse, and the rest of the stuff we moved into another warehouse. The store’s been open but now it’s time to get out of here,” Ambrosi said.
His goal was to transition to the North Naples storefront by the end of February.
Imported balsamic vinegars and olive oils from Italy are among the specialty products Ambrosi & Sons will offer at its expanded North Naples retail store.
Tim Aten
“I’m trying to have the least amount of downtime to get the new place open,” he said. “We’re just going to close up one day and put everything in the other one and get open.”
Once the store is up and running, Ambrosi will add more local events in The Grotto.
“Going forward, we’ll expand from there. But, right now, I’m just concerned with getting the store open and then having the other side for wine tastings and wine dinners. It’s not going to be a full-blown restaurant, at least not initially.”
Dining and Cooking