Greenville-based Marabella Old World Pizza will soon be serving up its first slice of authentic Italian pizza pie. Co-owner Massimo Mannino said Monday the restaurant, located at 6826½ Market Street, just south of Gordon Road, will open in a couple of weeks.

The interior has been ready for a while, but there were other hoops to jump through, including getting the necessary permits, Mannino said. 

He and Marabella manager, Jim Muse, were at the restaurant Monday working through a pre-opening punch list, such as getting the restaurant stocked. Mannino spoke about what will make Marabella unique in an area that has its fair share of pizza places. 

Keeping it simple is at the heart of Marabella’s success, according to Mannino.

“It's like pizza, sandwiches, pasta in a minimal way,” he said with an Italian accent that can’t help but add to Marabella’s claim of authenticity. “This is where we come from. Marabella is simple Italian food – pasta, lasagna, spaghetti and meatballs, pizza the old-fashioned way, made with fresh mozzarella,” he said, adding that the mozzarella is always made on sight.

After both moved from New York to North Carolina, Mannino and his business partner, Sal Passalacqua, opened the first Marabella in Greenville. Passalacqua’s father had emigrated from Italy in the 1970s and worked at a deli in New York’s Little Italy before opening a pizza shop in Brooklyn. 

In addition to the classic Margherita (fresh mozzarella, tomato sauce and basil), old-world pies include the Mondello (fresh mozzarella, arugula and prosciutto), the Romana (capers, anchovies and olives), and the Toscana (roasted peppers, hot salami and olives), among others. With, of course, sandwiches and pasta available to customers looking for a pizza alternative.

“It's a simple product, but we put so much heart in it,” Mannino said. “We care about what we are doing.”

“It’s real Italian food,” Muse said. “These guys have been doing it forever; it's from three generations of this family. Wilmington is in for a treat.”