Cafe La Bellitalia, a homey Italian American restaurant on Madison’s north side, is scheduled to close on Monday, March 10.
Owner Pietro Pipitone announced the permanent closure not on the restaurant’s own social media but in Madison Foodie, a Facebook group that has ballooned to more than 73,000 members (and now reaches far beyond Madison).
“I’ve spent 35 years in the restaurant industry,” Pipitone’s post read, in part. “My family and I have decided to sell the business and retire. I’ve enjoyed meeting and spending time with my loyal customers, who … have a special place in my heart.”
In a phone conversation later, Pipitone said the closure has been coming for a few years, and has been encouraged by his family.
“I got very tired,” he said. “I was working there for years seven days a week, morning and night, doing double shifts. I put in 70 hours a week, you know, constantly.
“It became so stressful, I couldn’t handle it anymore. I did my time. My time was up.”
Pietro Pipitone opened Cafe La Bellitalia with his family in 2006 on Madison’s north side.
BECK HENRECKSON
Building up Bellitalia
When Cafe La Bellitalia opened in October 2006 at 1026 N. Sherman Ave. across from Kavanaugh’s Esquire Club, a Cap Times critic called it “reliable” and “reasonably priced,” serving eggplant parmigiana, pasta carbonara and specialty pizzas.
Pipitone, a native of Sicily who moved to the Midwest in the early 1980s, ran the restaurant with his wife, Josephine, also from Sicily. His son Joe made the pizzas and later opened Papino’s in Windsor, which he ran for years before the pandemic. His daughter Joanna waited tables, and according to that 2006 review, “even Pipitone’s 11-year-old son, Vincent, is put to work on weekends.”
Lunch was popular for some years at Cafe La Bellitalia, Pipitone said, with “elders from Cherokee, Maple Bluff and the neighborhood” who would stop in mid-day and play cards. He shook hands at Maple Bluff Country Club and stopped in at local churches, trying to drum up business.
“I’m a Catholic, (but) I went to the Lutheran church too,” he said. “You have to be there, build up your own business. I spent so many hours talking to people.”
In addition to Cafe La Bellitalia, Pipitone ran Pietro’s Pizza locations in Beloit, Beaver Dam, Columbus and Sun Prairie. By 2007, he was already thinking ahead to retirement.
“The restaurant business is the best, but it sucks up so many hours,” he told the Isthmus at the time. “I hope my kids will take over for me eventually so I can retire. I hardly ever get back to Sicily.”
These days, the family works in other fields, Pipitone said, like construction, insurance and elder care.
“They don’t want to do the restaurant,” Pipitone said. “I don’t blame them, because they saw what I went through with ours. To deal with employees, with this, with that. It wasn’t very easy.”
Pipitone has noticed how restaurant culture has changed over 20-plus years. The industry used to be easier, he said. Now, it’s “rushing, rushing, rushing.”
“Life before was a little quieter,” he said. “Now people are running. They want the food right away, they don’t want to wait.
“Sometimes I would compare, when I had the restaurants in Sun Prairie and Madison. The one in Sun Prairie, they will wait 35, 40 minutes for the food. Here, they want the food right away. ‘Why is my food not ready?’ But we’re busy back there.
“Life is changing.”
Cafe La Bellitalia opened in 2006 on North Sherman Avenue and will close on March 10 when the owner retires.
BECK HENRECKSON
A quieter life
The news of Cafe La Bellitalia’s closing drew a wave of well wishes from patrons.
“This breaks my heart,” one commenter wrote on the Facebook post. “I’m sad that I may not get back to your wonderful restaurant before you close. I am fortunate to have been there often.”
“Please stock (up) on your carbonara because I will be visiting a few more times before March,” another wrote.
The north side has seen several new restaurants and bars open near Cafe La Bellitalia, including Simon Dettinger’s Northside Tavern (in a standalone building next door) and Lola’s Hi/Lo Lounge. Fellow Sicilian chef Alessandro Monachello opened It’s Good For You, a Neapolitan-style pizzeria, nearby in 2023, and Little Tibet is set to open a new grocery and market this year just off North Sherman.
Pipitone said he does not personally know the new owners of 1026 N. Sherman Ave., but heard they have a catering business. He still owns the Northside Tavern building next door. He said Dettinger will have the option to purchase it in a few years.
For himself, Pipitone has an open-ended ticket to Sicily booked for the summer. When he gets back, he might like to work part-time in a bookstore. He collects books, histories and biographies and first editions, storing “thousands” in his basement.
“I love all my customers, my local customers who give me such good business,” Pipitone said. “I am very happy. Such good people came to my restaurant, and I (have) so many friends now. People call me every day … ‘How did you close? I’m so sad.’ I’m very thankful.”
This story has been updated.