Bella occupies a building in downtown Maryville that was built in 1925 as a J.C. Penney, whose name is memorialized in a mosaic at the front door. For 20 years it was Sullivan’s Downtown, a cousin to Sullivan’s on Rocky Hill.

When owner Chad Irvine decided to close his satellite venue, Jim and Loni Klonaris and their partners took the space and opened Bella in April of 2020. Executive Chef T.J. Saunders’ daughter Madeline named it: “If you’re going to have an Italian restaurant,” she said, “you have to call it Bella.”