Giovanni Prignano hopes his is an immigrant success story.
As a young man in Sicignano degli Alburni in Southern Italy, he worked in hotels and restaurants while attending culinary school.
He was 21 when he packed his belongings and moved to America in 2015. He didn’t speak English.
“I came to this country because I like the opportunity that this country offers. I wanted to learn a different culture. I love to do better and learn as much as I can,” he said.
A cousin, Paolo Ricciardi, had restaurant connections in the New York-New Jersey area.
Prignano started as a busboy and worked his way up to general manager at Patrizia’s, an Italian restaurant chain. Later he worked as a private chef for a year and a half.
He met a woman. They married. Alysha Prignano has relatives in Jacksonville. After one visit, the couple decided to move here.
In early November, after seven months of remodeling a former pizza restaurant, the couple opened Bella Vista Italian Restaurant at 540 Florida 13 in Fruit Cove.
The happy ending depends on his skills as a chef and restaurant manager.
At night, when the windows are dark, the restaurant takes diners to Italy, despite being in a strip mall. Prignano and some of the staff speak Italian around the customers.
Bella Vista is a small, tidy, white tablecloth restaurant that can seat 75.
Customers can see its large pizza ovens as they enter. Hidden from view in the back is the small kitchen where Prignano cooks Italian cuisine. Family pictures hang on a wall in the back of the dining room.
Pizzas are served whole, not by the slice. Prignano uses three types of flour when making his pizza dough. Bread is baked daily in-house.
Bella Vista serves a full array of pasta dishes as well as meat and seafood entrees. It also offers catering services.
Dishes are made to order with specialty ingredients from Italy. A 55-pound imported round of Pecorino Romano cheese that cost $500 sits in the cooler.
“We are trying to stay authentic, so our food may take a little longer than other restaurants. But people don’t seem to mind. The food comes out pretty good,” he said.
“You can’t get a pineapple pizza here. That is against the Italian culture. We’d rather stick to the authentic than sell an extra pizza.”
Prignano is aware of customers’ dietary needs and has vegetarian and vegan offerings as well.
In addition to being less expensive than New Jersey, Jacksonville reminded him in some ways of home.
“We love the weather down here. The people are nice. Everyone says hello and they take the time to speak to you. In New York and New Jersey, people are moving really fast. They don’t take the time to exchange a couple of nice words with you,” Prignano said.
The restaurant is self-financed. The couple saved their money and used Alysha Prignano’s experience in corporate finance where she still works remotely to invest well.
Prignano estimated it took $250,000 to start the business.
The biggest construction mishap took place while the exhaust hood was being installed. Halfway through the job, the installation company went out of business and left the job unfinished. A new company had to be hired.
So far, Prignano has marketed the restaurant like any 29-year-old probably would. He puts the word out on the internet, Facebook, Instagram and other social media.
He doesn’t have to do a lot of that. His food is carrying the message.
“People are talking to each other and they are posting on social media. In our first week we got more than 25 five-star reviews on Yelp and Google. You know you are doing something right to get that kind of feedback in one week,” he said.
Bella Vista is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; and 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Sunday.
On Mondays, Prignano spends the day preparing the restaurant for the week with a thorough cleaning.
As with most restaurateurs, the business is his life.
“We don’t have any children. Our firstborn is here,” Prignano said.