Handmade Pasta and Wood-Fired Pizza Head Downtown as Trattoria Napoli Eyes July 23 Opening

A full-service Italian restaurant serving house-made pasta and wood-fired pizza is targeting a July 23 opening at 5470 7th St. in downtown Zephyrhills, giving local families a new chef-driven dining spot in the middle of the city's historic core. Chef-owner Matthew Zappoli confirmed the target date to local media outlets, cautioning that it hinges on construction, licensing and a final certificate of occupancy.

The restaurant, called Trattoria Napoli, is billed as a "modern Italian trattoria" with a casual neighborhood feel — the kind of place built around fresh pasta, pizza and Sunday-dinner staples rather than white-tablecloth formality. Its arrival adds to a wave of new businesses opening along the 7th Street corridor as the city works to revitalize its downtown.

A neighborhood spot, not a formal one

According to reports, Zappoli is designing the space to feel warm and inviting without leaning fine-dining. Plans call for around 120 to 128 seats spread across a main dining room, a bar, four outdoor tables to start and a semiprivate area he's nicknamed the "pizza room." The look leans cozy: warm lighting, hardwood tables, olive-green booths, basil-green accents and black ceilings.

Zappoli is opening the restaurant with support from his wife, Idania Reyes, who has helped shape the menu and the overall concept, he told local media outlets.

What's on the menu

The kitchen plans to roll and extrude its own pasta in house using Italian equipment, and to bake pizza in a gas-fired Wood Stone oven using dough from a starter Zappoli has worked with for years. The seafood and steaks round out a menu that reaches from family recipes to more ambitious plates.

Among the dishes Zappoli has described:

• Millie's Meatballs — made from his grandmother's recipe, offered as an appetizer or as an entrée with pasta.
• Braised short rib agnolotti — with parsnip puree, a Bordelaise red wine reduction and shaved Parmesan.
• Bistecca Fiorentina for two — a 32-ounce cut of prime beef with Tuscan-style rosemary garlic oil and Parmesan roasted potatoes.

The chef behind it

Zappoli was born in Brooklyn into an Italian American family where, he told local media outlets, Sunday meals and family gatherings revolved around food. That upbringing led him to the Culinary Institute of America and a roughly 30-year career that moved through New York, Las Vegas, California and Florida, with work spanning fine dining and casual concepts.

He previously opened an Italian restaurant in Long Branch, New Jersey, before spending the past decade with Hard Rock, where he rose to director of culinary in Tampa. He has described Trattoria Napoli as the culmination of his life and career — a way to connect his family roots with three decades in professional kitchens.

Planned hours

The opening schedule leans toward dinner service. According to reports, the planned hours are:

Part of a downtown push

The restaurant lands on a stretch of 7th Street that local leaders and the Main Street Zephyrhills organization have been working to bring back to life with more shops, restaurants and walkable evening activity. Trattoria Napoli joins a run of new food-and-drink concepts recently announced for the area, adding a sit-down, chef-owned option to the downtown mix.

As of publication, the restaurant's website was not yet live. Residents can follow updates on the project's Instagram account, @trattorianapoli2026.

The bottom line

If the timeline holds, Zephyrhills families will have a new made-from-scratch Italian option downtown before the end of July — pasta pulled in house, pizza from a wood-fired oven, and a menu built around both fine-dining chops and grandma's recipes. The July 23 date remains a target, so it's worth keeping an eye on the build-out and licensing before making a reservation.

For more local dining and downtown news, visit Zephyrhills Community Website and browse our latest coming-soon and business coverage. Have a favorite Italian dish you're hoping makes the menu? Join the conversation in our Community Forum, and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and X so you don't miss opening day.