Attilio's Italian Restaurant to Close After 25 Years

Angela and Frank Anselmo recently took the sign down that announced Attilio's will close Friday and thanked their loyal customers for patronizing their little Italian restaurant for 25 good years.

It's not that the couple have changed their minds. They will retire from business, as planned.

It's just that customers were coming in crying, Angela Anselmo explained from behind the counter last Friday, "and then I'd start crying." There was still lots of work to be done, pizzas to bake and chicken parm and seafood platters to be made.

Tucked in a strip mall on Cedar Crest Boulevard, the kind seen across America and often decried as soulless, Attilio's Restaurant and Pizzeria had a face and a warm, beating heart. A casual, friendly neighborhood restaurant in an unlikely spot that had attracted a loyal following. Many of their customers became friends and will remain so.

"It's bittersweet," Anselmo said of their decision to call it quits, but the time was right. Their children, Frank and Annamaria, who grew up working next to them in the restaurant, are grown and embarking on successful careers.

The couple, who live in South Whitehall, said they plan to travel and to visit Frank's mother in Palermo, Sicily.

The Anselmos sold their restaurant to Joe and Georgette Ruffino, who will remodel and reopen it as Biaggio on June 10.

"I want it to be an easy transition. We wish them the same success we had and we wish them well," Anselmo said.

With less than a week before they close their doors forever, Angela Anselmo said it hasn't hit her yet. She expects she'll put the closing sign back in the window. Even if it means she'll need to take time for a few more tears.