Lowndes County is a long way from Ft. Pierce, Fla., even farther from Michigan and an even longer way from Italy, but Carlo Sacco has called them all home. “Lake Park has a lot going for it,” said the co-owner of the town’s new Italian restaurant. Sacco and his partner, Shaun Levelle, opened Uncle Carlos’s Italian Ristorante in Lake Park’s Winn-Dixie shopping strip Aug. 27.

Sacco’s journey began in the city of Calabria, Italy, where he was born. At the age of 12, his family arrived in the United States. He ran a cement company in Michigan for 35 years before moving to Florida to start a restaurant. “My father-in-law said I was crazy for selling the cement company,” Sacco said. “He said I was crazy for moving to Florida to start a restaurant.