A North End Italian Fixture Is Shutting Down on Christmas Day

Decades-old North End staple Ristorante Fiore is shutting down after service on Christmas Day. Owner Fiore Colella announced on Facebook that the restaurant will serve its last plates of pasta on December 25, and then he plans to retire from the industry.

“After much thought, I am hanging up my apron and will retire to spend time with my family, my incredible grandchildren, and do some hunting and fishing,” Colella said in the Facebook post.

The restaurant’s manager, Tricia Colella, who is also Fiore’s daughter, told the Boston Globe that her father wasn’t shutting down the restaurant due to financial issues, but rather, “he’s closing because he can,” she said. “It’s just time for him to move on and enjoy the next chapter of his life.”

Colella has a long history in the North End’s restaurant scene. He was an owner of the century-old Cantina Italiana before opening Ristorante Fiore, at 250 Hanover Street, near Parmenter Street, in 2000. The 22-year-old restaurant was known for its extensive menu of Italian pastas, seafood, and steak, and it boasted one of the neighborhood’s only rooftop dining areas.

As for what’s next, the space has already been snapped up by another longtime North End restaurateur, Frank DePasquale, who also owns a number of sought-after Italian favorites in the neighborhood, including Bricco, Mare Oyster Bar, and Trattoria Il Panino. He plans to revive a new version of Umbria — the former downtown Italian restaurant and nightclub that Bostonians may remember from the 1990s — at the Hanover Street location. The menu is focused on the regional fare of Umbria in central Italy, and it’ll open sometime next spring, according to a representative for the restaurant.

Update: December 1, 2022, 4 p.m.: This post has been updated to reflect more information about the incoming revival of Umbria.