{"id":22471,"date":"2023-02-01T14:46:04","date_gmt":"2023-02-01T14:46:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/?page_id=22471"},"modified":"2025-02-11T21:44:39","modified_gmt":"2025-02-11T21:44:39","slug":"italian-restaurants","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/restaurants\/italian-restaurants\/","title":{"rendered":"Italian Restaurants"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\">[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1675280166581{margin-top: -20px !important;margin-bottom: -20px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 10px !important;padding-top: 15px !important;padding-bottom: 15px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;}&#8221;]\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Postcard showing main dining room of Cafe Bova, a popular downtown Italian restaurant, 1912. Founded by Calabrian-born Antonio Bova in 1907, this cosmopolitan restaurant featured elegant tables, murals of Neapolitan scenery, and live Italian music. Its eclectic menu offered dishes ranging from spaghetti with &#8220;clam gravy,&#8221; to risotto Milanese, to New England boiled dinners.<\/em><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text]<style>.vcex-heading.vcex_69e4a45e6f58d{font-size:36px;}<\/style><div class=\"vcex-heading vcex-heading-plain vcex-module wpex-heading wpex-text-2xl vc_custom_1675280225084 vcex_69e4a45e6f58d\"><span class=\"vcex-heading-inner wpex-inline-block\">Italian Restaurants in Boston<\/span><\/div>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1685021689995{padding-right: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;padding-left: 30px !important;}&#8221;]<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/restaurants-protype\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-22431 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/global-eats-logo.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"326\" height=\"70\" \/><\/a>In 1868, Boston\u2019s first Italian-owned restaurant, Vercilli\u2019s opened on Boylston Street. Interestingly, although Vercilli\u2019s highlighted its Italian roots, it served mainly French and American food. For a period in the late nineteenth century, an \u201cItalian\u201d restaurant simply denoted that the owner or chef was Italian, but said nothing of the food. It was not until the 1890s\u2013with the arrival of thousands of immigrants from southern Italy\u2013that restaurants serving Italian cuisine became more prevalent in Boston. By the 1920s, there were several hundred Italian-owned restaurants, making Italians the third largest group of immigrant restauranteurs in the city.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>To the North End and Beyond<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The earliest Italian restaurants appeared in the 1890s in the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/immigrant-places\/the-north-end\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">North End<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, home to thousands of Italian men who crossed the Atlantic in hopes of finding work. Some took their meals in the residential hotels that sprung up to serve single men, offering food from their home regions of Campania, Sicily, and others. Italian grocery stores and bakeries also sprung up, offering familiar foods to take out. Some of these establishments began offering table service with daily menus posted on the wall. <a href=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/restaurants-protype\/#1895map\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">As our 1895 map shows<\/a>, there were at least five Italian-owned restaurants clustered along North Street, stretching toward the docks where many newcomers worked.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_22483\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22483\" style=\"width: 546px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Angelos-BG-4-29-1906-crop.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-22483\" src=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Angelos-BG-4-29-1906-crop-1024x741.jpeg\" alt=\"Crowded restaurant dining room with waiters serving men and women patrons. Table in foreground with bottle of Chianti and two wine glasses.\" width=\"546\" height=\"395\" srcset=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Angelos-BG-4-29-1906-crop-1024x741.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Angelos-BG-4-29-1906-crop-300x217.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Angelos-BG-4-29-1906-crop-768x556.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Angelos-BG-4-29-1906-crop.jpeg 1139w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 546px) 100vw, 546px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-22483\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Illustration of Angelo&#8217;s Restaurant in the North End. This lively restaurant was owned by two English-speaking Italians and attracted both immigrants as well as curious Americans. Boston Globe, April 29, 1906.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Over the next several decades, a strong Italian ethnic enclave took root in this neighborhood, as many men sent for their families to join them and settled amid the familiar culture of the North End. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/restaurants-protype\/#1926map\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our 1926 map\u00a0<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">shows, there were upwards of fifteen Italian-owned restaurants in the North End, spreading outward from North Square to Hanover, Salem, and Commercial Streets. The map also shows a wider diffusion of Italian eateries across the city. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/immigrant-places\/east-boston\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">East Boston<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a newer area of Italian settlement, hosted at least four Italian-owned restaurants in 1926. Others, such as the Zappion Cafe and the Eliot Inn Italian Restaurant, were located in the\u00a0 downtown theater district where they catered to a broader American clientele.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s for dinner?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the early 20th century, the food at Italian restaurants was often described in newspapers as being a novelty worth trying, quite different from other options in the city at the time.\u00a0 Most Italian restaurants were owned and operated by southern Italians and their menu reflected southern Italian staples, such as spaghetti with a garlicky red tomato sauce, known as \u201cmarinara\u201d or \u201cgravy.\u201d\u00a0 Often these restaurants featured veal, poultry, pasta, and sauces that were all prepared with \u201cgreat stress on the delicacy of flavor\u201d and in a traditional manner, according to a Boston Globe article in 1906.\u00a0 Italians\u2019 liberal use of garlic, in fact, played a crucial role in introducing this ingredient to the American palate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As Italian eateries proliferated and spread downtown, the cuisine evolved to accommodate American tastes and available ingredients. This Italian American-style cooking included larger portions with more meat and fish\u2013rare items in rustic Italian meals back home. Spaghetti with meatballs became a favorite, as did antipasto (an assortment of smoked meats, pickled vegetables, and cheese), minestrone soup, veal parmesan, and chicken cacciatore. Pizzerias such as Pizzeria Regina in the North End (established in 1926) and Santarpio\u2019s in East Boston (1933) and also gained popularity, with pizza evolving from a simple takeout food to a sit-down family meal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although a majority of Italian restaurants in Boston were owned by southern Italians, racism and discrimination against the southern restauranteurs was common and affected public perceptions of their restaurants. In a 1904 Boston Herald article on the development of \u201cLittle Italy,\u201d the writer noted that Neapolitan proprietors ran several \u201clower class\u201d Italian restaurants that were\u00a0 \u201cshoddy imitations of cheap American restaurants.\u201d\u00a0 By contrast, the article noted, a nearby Bolognese restaurant owned by Ernesto Tassanari had more refined dishes and attracted a more \u201cexclusive\u201d crowd. Tensions between northern and southern Italian immigrants themselves were also evident, as restaurants like Tassanari\u2019s refused to hire southern Italians for their staff.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Spaghetti and Slumming<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although most early Italian restaurants in Boston catered to the Italian community, many native-born bohemians began patronizing these restaurants as well, attracted to the \u201cexotic\u201d qualities of Italian food and people. These \u201cslummers\u201d found the tomato-based, vegetable-focused cuisine of southern Italians almost an antithesis to the \u201cNew England\u201d way of eating. They were also struck by the exoticism of Italian culture and Italian people, who were viewed as an \u201cin-between\u201d race at the time. An 1894 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Boston Globe <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">article on commented on the colorful quality of local Italian servers, writing of the \u201cbuxom, black-eyes maidens\u201d who spoke \u201cfascinating broken English.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_22484\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22484\" style=\"width: 404px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Jolly-Italian-Chef.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-22484\" src=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Jolly-Italian-Chef-1024x558.jpg\" alt=\"Drawing of a jolly-looking Italian chef holding a knife and chicken in one arm and a calf in the other.\" width=\"404\" height=\"220\" srcset=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Jolly-Italian-Chef-1024x558.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Jolly-Italian-Chef-300x163.jpg 300w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Jolly-Italian-Chef-768x418.jpg 768w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Jolly-Italian-Chef.jpg 1304w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 404px) 100vw, 404px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-22484\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>A stereotypical image of a jolly Italian chef, published in the Boston Globe, May 9, 1933.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Italian restaurateurs soon began capitalizing on \u201cexotic\u201d depictions and stereotypes ascribed by slummers. As native-born Americans often associated Italians with ideas of tradition, family, and conviviality, some restaurant owners played up these characteristics. Proprietors often highlighted the connections to family within the restaurant, \u201cwhere mama cooked, papa served [and] one always found\u2026 homely advice on how to bear life\u2019s burden.\u201d Local newspapers provided vivid accounts of proprietors such as Bimbo Funai, who was described as a cheerful, rosy man from Florence, loved by all and known for being both a great cook and a \u201cjolly\u201d personality. For their part, restaurateurs also catered to slummers by crafting a certain image of Italy within their restaurants, complete with traditional Italian musicians and \u201cvillage-style decor\u201d evoking images of the Mediterranean.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>A look inside the Italian restaurant<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other restaurants sought to combine traditional Italian decor with American culture. Upon the opening of the Richmond House in Boston, owned by E.F. Palladino, the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Boston Post <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">described its elegant dining room \u201cdraped with the combined flags of Italy and America. On one side, Columbus discovered America, while his vis-a-vis was Washington reading the Declaration of Independence\u201d on the opposite wall. Looking to create a more cozy atmosphere, the owner of the Tuscan Restaurant, Bimbo Funai, also linked Italian and American culture by hanging prints of the Italian royal family alongside photos of three generations of his family in Italy and America.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Increasingly though, downtown Italian restaurants crafted their appeal to fashionable American customers seeking late night entertainment. One place that cultivated such patronage was the Lorraine restaurant. Located next to the Shubert Theater downtown, the Lorraine advertised its menu as\u00a0 \u201ca la carte from noon until midnight [with] dancing, cabaret, jazz band, and booths.\u201d\u00a0 The Miami Restaurant, which served both Italian and American food, emphasized its alcoholic beverages, noting the restaurant offered choice liquors, cordials, wine, and beer with \u201cmixed drinks a specialty\u201d alongside \u201cdancing till closing\u201d with a 12-piece orchestra. <\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_22486\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22486\" style=\"width: 441px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Mother-Annas-Restaurant-Mother-Anna-cooking.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-22486\" src=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Mother-Annas-Restaurant-Mother-Anna-cooking-1024x663.jpg\" alt=\"Anna Travaglione shown cooking at Mother Anna's restaurant.\" width=\"441\" height=\"286\" srcset=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Mother-Annas-Restaurant-Mother-Anna-cooking-1024x663.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Mother-Annas-Restaurant-Mother-Anna-cooking-300x194.jpg 300w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Mother-Annas-Restaurant-Mother-Anna-cooking-768x497.jpg 768w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Mother-Annas-Restaurant-Mother-Anna-cooking.jpg 1656w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 441px) 100vw, 441px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-22486\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Anna Travaglione, founder of Mother Anna&#8217;s Restaurant in the North End, shown here in the 1950s. First opened in 1932, it remains a popular destination on Hanover Street. Courtesy of Mother Anna&#8217;s.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Such downtown establishments demonstrated the mainstream appeal of Italian American cuisine in the 1920s and 1930s, but few Italian immigrants would have patronized such upscale venues. Instead, they were more likely to dine at the cozier restaurants of the North End, of which there were dozens following the end of Prohibition, when wine could flow freely again.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Italian Restaurant Today<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Despite the diffusion and Americanization of the city\u2019s Italian restaurants, Boston\u2019s North End remained the hub of Italian cuisine, as it does to this day. Its pricier restaurants reflect a wider range of Italian culinary styles that continue to attract thousands of locals and tourists alike. Yet today, Italian restaurants can be found in all corners of the city, and some of Boston\u2019s oldest Italian restaurants have moved to or expanded their operations into the suburbs. Long-standing Boston classics, such as Santarpio\u2019s and Pizzeria Regina, followed their Italian-American clientele and opened new branches in the suburbs north of Boston. Still, the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/immigrant-places\/the-north-end\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">North End<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> carries a rich history, and Hanover Street remains a mecca of Italian food and culture, albeit one that has changed considerably from the days of red sauce and spaghetti.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">&#8211;Kyle Stapleton, Henry Valentine, and Lila Zarrella<\/p>\n<p><strong>Works Cited<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cBoston\u2019s Foreign Restaurants.: French, Italian, German, Jewish and Chinese Bills of Fare&#8211;No Need to Go Around the World to Learn What Others Eat.\u201d <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Boston Globe<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, January 7, 1894.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cinotto, Simone. \u201cServing Ethnicity: Italian Restaurants, American Eaters, and the Making of an Ethnic Popular Culture.\u201d In <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Italian American Table: Food, Family, and Community in New York City, <\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">180-209<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2013.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">O\u2019Connell, James C. <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dining Out in Boston: A Culinary History<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Hanover: University Press of New England, 2016.<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.2307\/j.ctv1xx9c90\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cRestaurant Life in Our \u2018Little Italy,\u2019 Where Bostonians and Aliens Mingle.\u201d <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Boston Herald<\/span><\/em><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">February 21, 1904.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thompson, Winifield M. \u201cBehind the Scenes in an Italian Kitchen.\u201d <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Boston Globe<\/span><\/em><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">April 29, 1906.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Vallandigham, E.N. \u201cBoston Miniatures.\u201d <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Boston Herald<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, November 30, 1911.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_btn title=&#8221;Return to Global Eats Homepage&#8221; style=&#8221;3d&#8221; color=&#8221;inverse&#8221; align=&#8221;center&#8221; link=&#8221;url:https%3A%2F%2Fglobalboston.bc.edu%2Findex.php%2Frestaurants-protype%2F|||&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1675280166581{margin-top: -20px !important;margin-bottom: -20px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 10px !important;padding-top: 15px !important;padding-bottom: 15px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;}&#8221;] Postcard showing main dining room of Cafe Bova, a popular downtown Italian restaurant, 1912. Founded by Calabrian-born Antonio Bova in 1907, this cosmopolitan restaurant featured elegant tables, murals of Neapolitan scenery, and live Italian music. Its eclectic menu offered&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":22480,"parent":22374,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[20,80,74,16,18,84,65,30,85,73],"class_list":["post-22471","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-boston","tag-ethnic","tag-food","tag-immigrants","tag-immigration","tag-italian","tag-italians","tag-massachusetts","tag-pizzeria","tag-restaurants","entry","has-media"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Italian Restaurants - Global Boston<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/restaurants\/italian-restaurants\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Italian Restaurants - Global Boston\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1675280166581{margin-top: -20px !important;margin-bottom: -20px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 10px !important;padding-top: 15px !important;padding-bottom: 15px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;}&#8221;] Postcard showing main dining room of Cafe Bova, a popular downtown Italian restaurant, 1912. Founded by Calabrian-born Antonio Bova in 1907, this cosmopolitan restaurant featured elegant tables, murals of Neapolitan scenery, and live Italian music. Its eclectic menu offered&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/restaurants\/italian-restaurants\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Global Boston\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GlobalBostonHistory\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-11T21:44:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/1912-Cafe-Bova-Restaurant-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1099\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"677\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@johnsohi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/restaurants\/italian-restaurants\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/restaurants\/italian-restaurants\/\",\"name\":\"Italian Restaurants - Global Boston\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/restaurants\/italian-restaurants\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/restaurants\/italian-restaurants\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/1912-Cafe-Bova-Restaurant-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-01T14:46:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-11T21:44:39+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/restaurants\/italian-restaurants\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/restaurants\/italian-restaurants\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/restaurants\/italian-restaurants\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/1912-Cafe-Bova-Restaurant-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/1912-Cafe-Bova-Restaurant-1.jpg\",\"width\":1099,\"height\":677,\"caption\":\"Postcard of main dining room of Cafe Bova, a popular downtown Italian restaurant, 1912. Founded by Calabrian-born Antonio Bova in 1907, this cosmopolitan restaurant featured elegant tables, murals of southern Italian scenery, and live Italian music. 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