In a lifetime, the average person will eat tens of thousands of meals.Most will be forgotten. A select handful, however, will be remembered. The meal they eat at Trattoria Bella Napoli is likely to be one of the few that leave a lasting impression. Trattoria Bella Napoli, loosely translated to “Beautiful Naples Eatery,” opened on Main Street in December 2024. It’s the product of Naples native Cesare Di Iorio, formerly the pizza chef at Osteria 500, and his business partner Maria Filomena Perrini. The restaurant, specializing in authentic Neapolitan cuisine, is a family affair—Cesare’s wife, Diana Mattera, serves as host. The staff, which includes Chef Roberto Spinozzi, are all Italian. Everything that Bella Napoli serves—from Di Iorio’s Neapolitan pizzas, which won second place at the 2024 International Pizza Challenge, to fresh, home-made pasta dishes and pastries—harkens back to a rich tradition of Neapolitan cuisine.
The meal begins with a heaping platter, the antipasto bella napoli, which features a mound of imported burrata cheese, a slice of cherry tomato bruschetta, a portion of mozzarella in carrozza, eggplant parmigiana and a white-base arancini ball with ham. The flavor pairings are classic Italian cuisine executed to perfection. Creamy burrata slathered atop the bright cherry tomato bruschetta makes for a perfect, creamy, summery bite. The fried portions—the arancini and mozzarella in carrozza—are just as delectable. The mozzarella in carrozza, which translates to “mozzarella in a carriage,” makes mozzarella sticks look like an affront to cuisine. Chewy, imported mozzarella is fried in breadcrumbs and sandwiched together for easy consumption. The arrancini, a fried stuffed rice ball, is filled with chunks of ham and a creamy white base.
At Bella Napoli, however, all things eventually come back to the oven. The tris montanare, or small fried pizzas, are three airy pillows of dough, each with a different assortment of toppings. One features crispy, lightly fried zucchini chips atop a bed of zucchini pesto and stracciatella cheese—the same creamy filling found in burrata. Another is a classic—bright floral tomato sauce from San Marzano tomatoes, mozzarella and sprigs of fresh basil make the montanare sing. The third, however, is the real star of the trio. The montanare is slathered in a rich, decadent pistachio cream before piling on ricotta cheese, paper-thin mortadella and a dusting of pistachios for the perfect blend of sweet and savory.
The Bella Napoli gnocchi, one of the restaurant’s most popular dishes, also harkens back to the oven. Tender potato gnocchis, made in-house by Chef Spinnozi, are submerged in a bath of zucchini pesto, stracciatella cheese, fried speck and parmigiana, all of which are served in a basket made of the pizza dough. “Where I come from in Naples, we have what’s called ‘wallet pizza,’” says Di Iorio. “You can walk on the street, fold up the pizza and eat it with one hand. That gave us the idea to serve the gnocchi in the pizza basket.” Although incredibly rich, the Bella Napoli gnocchi is a dish of balance. The depth of the zucchini pesto counters the intense umami flavors of the fried speck, a specialty in Southern Italy. The dish doesn’t need the pizza basket—but the opportunity to mop up any last bits of sauce certainly doesn’t hurt.
The linguine alle vongole is a silky, light affair with fresh homemade linguine, clams and a smattering of light, broiled cherry tomatoes that make a diner’s taste buds sing. The pollo alla cacciatora also makes use of the pizza oven. Juicy chicken thighs are baked amongst cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, onions and red wine that results in a simple, accessible and incredibly tasty bite. The star of the show, however, is undoubtedly the pizza. Consider it the pot of gold waiting at the end of the rainbow—every dish seems to build up to the finale, where Di Iorio’s award-winning pizza-making skills are on full display. The dough, made with imported OO flour, is allowed to ferment for anywhere from 24-48 hours before being slid into a ripping hot 900-degree oven. The total cooking time? A whopping 90 seconds.
“Our pizza is soft, not crispy like American pizza,” says Di Iorio of the cooking technique. “American pizza is a different style—it’s cooked at a lower temperature for a longer time—while we do have some crunch on the crust, it’s a softer pizza overall.” Di Iorio’s pizzas—perfectly chewy crusts with a smattering of char, with bright, pungent flavors from fresh ingredients—are delectable affairs that will make you fall in love with pizza all over again. Bella Napoli is not sparing in its menu either, offering a host of pizzas with a red, tomato sauce base such as the margherita, marinara and tartufina—a margherita base with confit cherry tomatoes, house-made sausage, shaved parmigiano and truffle oil—to bianche or white pies like the funghetta, a white pizza with mushroom, ham and caramelized onion and the mortazza, with mortadella, burrata cheese, pistachio cream and chopped pistachios. The menu also features a “gourmet” selection of pies which include a pizza with beef carpaccio, arugula, walnuts and lemon oil, the fichi made with fig jam and the proscuittella, with imported prosciutto, sun-dried tomatoes, basil pesto and ricotta cheese.
One of Di Iorio’s more unique and best-selling creations is the polpettina. The tender, yet sturdy dough supports a base layer of tomato sauce, followed by layers of milky mozzarella and Parmigiano Reggiano, an assortment of succulent meatballs and a mouth-watering ricotta-stuffed crust.
“I make the meatballs how my grandma taught me to make them,” says Di Iorio. “We mix the ground beef with cheese, milk, basil, salt and pepper before cooking it in the marinara sauce like she taught me as a child. It’s a very special process, and if we deviate even one step, it’s not the same product.”
The polpettina, with its crispy, creamy crust and juicy meatballs, exemplifies one of the things Bella Napoli does best—packaging an assortment of rich, heavy ingredients into a dish that is remarkably light and palatable. It’s an ode to the quality of the ingredients, Di Iorio’s mastery of his craft and the staff’s dedication to upholding a certain level of Neapolitan cuisine. “If you don’t hold yourself to the highest standard possible, then your food will change every day. If you came today and tried my pizza or pasta or meatballs, we want to make sure that it is the same quality tomorrow, the next day and the day after that,” says Di Iorio.
Di Iorio’s taste of home continues into the dessert menu, which includes the delizia al limone, a lemon-essence sponge cake that hails from the Campania region of Italy. The sponge cake—as moist a cake as one is bound to find anywhere—is filled with a delightful lemon cream and topped with a sweet, lemon glaze.
The delizia al limone, as with every other dish on Bella Napoli’s menu, is a reminder that we all come from somewhere. For
Di Iorio and the rest of the staff, their work at Bella Napoli proves every day that although they may have left their homes, their hometown traditions will never leave them. “You have to put your passion and your love into this job,” says Di Iorio. “We are a family restaurant, cooking is in our blood, and we pour all of ourselves into it.”
Dining and Cooking