You could feel the pull of Indianapolis’ long-gone Little Italy when Maialina Italian Kitchen + Bar gave invited guests a sneak peek of the new Fountain Square restaurant Friday night. As couples clinked Aperol spritz cocktails and gangs of friends tucked forks into shared plates of cacio e pepe pasta, huge windows framed Turchetti’s Salumeria, a new Italian-leaning butcher shop and deli across Shelby Street.

A block up Virginia Avenue, Bovaconti Coffee shop, scheduled to open this summer in the former Italian-owned Bovaconti Jewelers, was near completion.  Add Maialina, Turchetti’s and Bovaconti to the crusty Italian-style breads sold at nearby Amelia’s bakery and the nonna-approved rigatoni at Bluebeard restaurant and you start drifting back to the early 1900s when so many Italians lived southeast of central downtown Indianapolis that the area around Holy Rosary Catholic Church was known as Little Italy.