! KEITH O’CONNOR NATE BLAIS
bNapoli Y
ou won’t find a hearty Spaghetti and Meatballs, or for that matter a cheesy Chicken Parmesan on the menu at bNapoli Italian where the focus is on authentic Italian cuisine combined with a fine dining experience. “My dream behind bNapoli was to offer customers dishes you would find from different regions of Italy, but predominately Southern Italian cuisine which is my heritage. I wanted to create a cosmopolitan atmosphere like you might find in a New York, Miami or Boston restaurant, where you could forget for a minute that you are in Western Massachusetts,” said owner Jerry Moccia.
ITALIAN
Moccia brought everything he knew with him from Italy - from his authentic Italian heritage to Italy’s regional cuisines - when arriving in the United States in 2001. He arrived in Springfield from a little town outside of Naples, where the restaurateur grew up with parents who owned a restaurant. “The hospitality industry became a part of me over the years. I had family in America and had been coming here every couple of years, only this time one thing led to another and I decided to stay. My first job was working for a food distributor based in Springfield, where I was a field rep selling to restaurants. I always had it in my mind to open my
own restaurant here. When I learned about a pizzeria in West Springfield that was up for sale, I made the investment in my future and opened what today is Bella Napoli Pizzeria and Catering,” said Moccia. “Bella Napoli was a very busy pizzeria. It continues today to offer many Italian American dishes using the same highquality ingredients that we are known for at bNapoli - from PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) San Marzano tomatoes grown in a small region between Naples and Salerno to our own homemade rustic pasta made from 100% semolina. Its success allowed me in 2014 to purchase the former Curry GOLOCALMAGAZINES.COM 11
