About

dolce Zola was founded by the Belfiore family, drawing on generations of authentic Italian cooking. The goal has always been simple: to bring the range and richness of Italy’s pasta to West Chester.

Our menu honors many of Italy’s classic recipes while also featuring original dishes created by husband and wife team Pietro Belfiore and Antonella Gamba. Their approach blends traditional techniques with thoughtful creativity, resulting in food that feels both familiar and distinctly their own.

At dolce Zola, everything begins with the pasta. We craft it fresh each day from semolina flour, creating a texture and flavor that stay true to Northern Italian tradition. Every sauce and every detail in our kitchen is made with care because we believe great food comes from real hands and genuine craftsmanship. In Italy, pasta isn’t one thing, it’s hundreds of regional shapes, textures, and stories. We want our guests to experience that same variety and creativity through dishes that are both comforting and surprising.

We work directly with trusted vendors in Italy and select partners in the U.S. to ensure our ingredients remain pure, authentic, and true to their origins. We follow a careful ingredient standard that prioritizes scratch cooking, animal welfare, and sustainability.

Executive Chef/Owner

Antonella Gamba

Born and raised in Piemonte, Antonella grew up in a small town near Milan called Novara. From a young age, she was surrounded by family members that had their own farms. She would regularly go to the farms after school to help out. This stuck with her and she started spending more and more time in the kitchen with her cousins from all the different farms and would regularly have cook-offs to see who could make the best meals! While her family was not financially rich by any means they had proud roots with the farms they operated in Northern Italy. She experienced firsthand how important it was to respect the farmers and the farming methods.

These farms today have been awarded to be some of the best in Italy. Her family members from Cameri now lead the Gorgonzola cooperative that is used by the best restaurants in Europe. (Unfortunately, it is a small farm and the farm does not have the licensing to be able to ship it to us here) However, it is in our name, dolce Zola, it pays homage to her childhood farm that specialized in sweet gorgonzola. Other family members today still hold on to their small farms and Antonella always stops by when she goes back to visit these farms to advise and learn methods of farming that she then utilizes at dolce Zola. Some of our products (like truffle mushrooms) come directly from these farms that she grew up on!

Chef:

Simone Calonaci

Born and raised in Tuscany, Simone grew up in the heart of Florence, surrounded by rich culinary traditions. As a tactic to keep a young cheeky Simone out of trouble, his Nonna (grandmother) would invite him into the kitchen and ask for a helping hand.  It was there he spent hours learning the special recipes passed down from generation to generation. There he developed the passion and patience it takes to be in a kitchen.  It was there he understood that serving a beautiful Tuscan dish requires all the senses—touch, smell, sound, sight and taste.

After working at Mario’s for eight years, Simone and partner Elio opened Trattoria la Burrasca. Almost instantly, La Burrasca became a hit for both locals and tourists alike. After that, Simone decided to take on a new challenge—America. He decided to join dolce Zola because he wanted a restaurant that had true Italian authenticity and where he could feel like he was at home with the people.