Italo brings handmade pasta and wine bar to Uptown Charlotte

Italo opened in Uptown Charlotte on Tuesday, May 19, bringing a pasta house and wine bar to the former Cicchetti space at East Trade and North College streets inside Bank of America Corporate Center.

The new restaurant is being framed around the feel of “Sunday dinner at your grandmother’s table,” a pitch that sets it apart from the sharper, faster pace often associated with Uptown dining. Italo says it is built for gathering and “unrushed meals,” leaning into comfort, familiarity and a sense of occasion rather than novelty.

The project comes from Pierre Bader and Briana Cohen, the owners behind Aria Tuscan Grill, making Italo the latest step for a hospitality team already known in Charlotte’s Italian dining scene. Aria also lists executive chef Alex Piatt as part of its team, and describes its cooking as old-world comfort food reimagined in a modern Italian setting.

At Italo, the menu focus is clear: handmade pasta and focaccia made by hand daily. The restaurant says it uses Molino Pasini flour imported from Lombardy, a detail that pushes the concept toward a more specific, ingredient-driven identity rather than a broad Italian catchall. The restaurant’s own language describes it as “a tucked away table for handmade pasta, good wine, and unrushed meals.”

The opening also gives Uptown a new Italian option in a space that already has neighborhood recognition. Cicchetti, the Italian tapas and wine bar that previously occupied the corner, closed on Wednesday, May 6, after seven years in Uptown Charlotte. Italo steps into that footprint with immediate visibility inside one of the city’s most recognizable office towers, where restaurants often have to serve workers by day and diners looking for a fuller evening out after hours.

That combination, a familiar corner, a veteran ownership group and a menu centered on fresh pasta, gives Italo a clear lane in Uptown. Rather than chasing flash, the restaurant is betting that comfort-driven hospitality and handmade pasta will make the old Cicchetti address feel like a new neighborhood dinner destination.