Olivadi, the family-run Italian restaurant that has anchored downtown Norwood for nearly two decades, will permanently close on October 10, 2026. The DeLapa family announced the closure in a Facebook post, thanking guests for 18 years of support and inviting the community back for one last meal before the doors shut for good.
The restaurant at 32 Guild Street has been a fixture of the town's dining scene since it opened in December 2008, when founder Anthony DeLapa partnered with Boston restaurateur Bruno Marini and chef Daniele Baliani, a veteran of New York's Le Cirque and Lydia Shire's Pignoli, according to Boston Chefs. The original concept leaned into contemporary Italian cuisine, backed by a wine list of more than 280 selections, per the same outlet. As reported by MassLive, Olivadi has more recently served modern Italian fare including salads, pizzas, pastas and seafood, and the DeLapa family has described the restaurant as a cherished part of three generations of their own family's story.
Anthony DeLapa's connection to the restaurant ran deeper than ownership. He came to the United States from Italy at age 11, before going on to build a regional real estate business, according to Olivadi's own account of its history. He later built a successful real estate development company. The restaurant is located at 32 Guild Street.
A Space Built by the Family, Inside and Out
The restaurant's interior was not simply designed for the DeLapa family — it was built by them. Anthony constructed the restaurant, which includes architectural details and original artwork by his son, John DeLapa, according to Olivadi's history page. The family has described the venue as both a personal project and a gathering place for the community, a description that has echoed through the tributes accompanying this closure announcement.
That personal investment made the restaurant's first major disruption especially painful. Olivadi closed in June 2020 amid the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Anthony DeLapa died that same April at age 82, according to an obituary published through Legacy.com and the Boston Globe. His death initiated a lengthy and emotional transition for the family business, one that kept the restaurant shuttered for roughly two years.
A License Battle and a Last-Minute Reopening
Getting Olivadi back open was not straightforward. Before its reopening in 2022, the Norwood Board of Selectmen threatened to suspend or revoke the restaurant's all-alcohol license over non-use, according to Patch. Patch also noted the limited availability of Norwood liquor licenses, and the DeLapa family ultimately reopened the restaurant just hours before a decisive hearing, per Patch's reporting at the time. The restaurant went on to reopen in May 2022 after those setbacks, according to MassLive.
The restaurant suffered another significant loss earlier this summer. Head chef Jeffrey Paul Sullivan died on July 4, 2026, at age 46, after a battle with cancer, according to an obituary from Dockray & Thomas Funeral Home. Sullivan had previously served as head chef at Chiara Bistro in Westwood before taking over Olivadi's kitchen, leaving the restaurant without its top culinary leader roughly two months before the closure was announced.
Part of a Wider Shift in Norwood's Dining District
Olivadi's closing is not an isolated event along Norwood's commercial corridor. In June 2026, the Norwood Board of Selectmen approved liquor license transfers and management changes for several long-standing local restaurants, including Café Venice and The Colonial House, according to The Norwood Record. Café Venice has since transitioned into an Indian restaurant called Sarba Little Venice, while The Colonial House has become Colonial Ale House, the paper reported.
The shutdown is one development in Massachusetts' restaurant industry; no statewide closure count or sector ranking is included here.
Suburban Italian-American dining still has a foothold nearby. Casual dining group Conrad's runs a long-standing location in Norwood alongside outposts in Walpole, Foxborough and Needham, offering family-friendly American-Italian comfort food across four towns south of Boston, as Hoodline previously reported. But for now, the DeLapa family is asking the community to come back one more time before Olivadi's doors close for good on October 10.
