I walked into the newly renovated Wellesley Hills Papa Razzi at summer’s end and was greeted by Spring. The restaurant has undergone many changes, but the life-sized classical stone statue the staff says everyone calls “Spring” remains. Looking like a transplanted divine patroness of an Italianate garden, she survived the construction bustle to continue her reign over the front end of the restaurant, there to remind customers that some things are permanent.

Other things, however, are not. A welcome change is the increase in much-needed parking spaces, but Papa Razzi didn’t pull that asphalt real estate out of thin air. About those coveted parking spaces…you know that saying, “no pain, no gain”? Well, the extra spaces came about because another popular spot, Mark’s Pizza & Subs, was torn down to make room for minivans, BMWs, and the occasional Tesla. (See our post, “They paved the paradise that was Mark’s Pizza and put in a parking lot”.)