Villa di Roma is shutting down for 6 to 8 weeks to fix underground pipes

Leaks have been found in the century-old water pipes beneath the Italian Market buildings that house Villa Di Roma, so the popular restaurant will close after business Sunday for six to eight weeks of repairs.

The restaurant, like other parts of South Philadelphia built around the turn of the 20th century, sits over a dirt cellar, rather than a stone or concrete foundation.

First, a portion of the kitchen will be dismantled. Then workers will break the floor, excavate dirt, replace the leaky pipes, backfill, build a new floor, and perform other repairs before the kitchen is put back together.

» READ MORE: A brief history of Villa di Roma

“These buildings have been good to us. We have to be good to them,” said Epiphany “Pip” De Luca, who was 13 in 1963 when his parents, fruit vendors Domenic and Carmella, bought a bar known as Fatty Charlie’s (later Dutchie’s) at 934 S. Ninth St. They followed up by buying Villa di Roma, then a neighborhood restaurant (and now the dining room), at 936. Later, they bought the kitchen-supply store at 932.

A plate of spaghetti and meatballs went for $2.75 in the early days. The restaurant has closed for vacation previously, but for no more than 10 days, De Luca said.

Since announcing the closing on its website, “customers have been asking, ‘You’re not going to change anything?’ No, we’re not,” De Luca said. He said he would post word of the reopening on the website.

De Luca, 72, was Class of 1968 from St. John Neumann High, when a chef named Vince “Cuz” Pilla convinced him to stay on. “He said it was an opportunity,” he said.

All six De Luca siblings, plus cousins, nieces, and nephews, work there. “If we didn’t, who knows when we’d see each other?” he said.