From Puglia to the Pasta Bar
Addolorata Marzovilla learned to shape pasta as a girl in southern Italy, and she hasn't stopped. Every morning, Nonna Dora ties on her apron and gets to work.
Nonna Dora's 2nd Avenue | Our Story
A Girl in Puglia
Addolorata Marzovilla grew up in southern Italy, learning to shape dough beside her mother and sister — pasta knowledge passed woman to woman, hand to hand. The shapes she mastered then are the same ones on the menu today.
From Needlework to Noodles
Dora arrived in the United States in the 1970s and spent decades as a seamstress. When her son Nicola opened a restaurant, she traded thread for dough — and found, as she put it, that her life got better.
The Pasta Bar Opens
Nonna Dora's opened on Second Avenue in Kips Bay: handmade pasta, shaped daily by someone who had been doing it for seventy years. She is the first thing you see when you walk in — white chef's hat, glasses, hands at work.
Every Shape Has a History
Orecchiette with broccoli rabe, maccheroncini grano arso with duck confit — each dish traces back to Pugliese tradition that Dora carries in her hands more than any recipe. The New York Times, Grub Street, and The Infatuation all took notice.
Two Locations, One Table
In 2025, Nonna Dora's opened at 200 Church Street in Tribeca — a ten-year lease signed by a woman in her nineties who simply wasn't finished yet. Same hands, same pasta, two tables in New York.
