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'''Villa Dolce Cafe''' is an Italian cafe at 1828 Parmenter St. in downtown Middleton, known for thin-crust pizza and gelato made in house<ref name="isthmus-2007-04-19-tony-lumani">Kepecs, B. S. (2007, April 19). [https://isthmus.com/food-drink/tony-lumani/ "Tony Lumani."] ''Isthmus''.</ref>. In 2016 the Capital Times called it "this popular pizza spot"<ref name="ct-2016-06-22-p30">(2016, June 22). Gelato roundup: Villa Dolce Cafe, 1828 Parmenter St., Middleton, "this popular pizza spot". ''The Capital Times''. p. 30. Newspapers.com image [https://www.newspapers.com/image/520619804/ 520619804].</ref>.

==History==
Brothers Tony (Faton) and Jerry Lumani, from an Albanian family from Macedonia, had run the Bavaria Cafe around the corner since 1991. They opened Villa Dolce "two days before New Year's 2006," most likely December 30, 2005<ref name="isthmus-2007-04-19-tony-lumani" />. The building, from the 1890s, has been a post office, funeral home, candy store and restaurant<ref name="isthmus-2007-04-19-tony-lumani" />. Visit Middleton calls it the historic Weinberg Building, home to the city's first post office<ref name="visit-middleton-villa-dolce">(2026, October 28). [https://visitmiddleton.com/front-porch-series-villa-dolce/ "Meet Your Good Neighbor: Villa Dolce Cafe."] ''Visit Middleton''.</ref>.

The menu began simply and later added homemade pasta and a full bar. The cafe stayed open through the COVID-19 pandemic on takeout<ref name="visit-middleton-villa-dolce" />.

==Pizza==
In 2007 Villa Dolce had 15 pizzas, "from classic Margheritas to shrimp with goat cheese or prosciutto and arugula." "Like gelato, Albanians are known for pizza," Tony Lumani said<ref name="isthmus-2007-04-19-tony-lumani" />.

==Locations==
* 1828 Parmenter St., Middleton (since about December 2005).

==See also==
* [[2000s (decade)]]
* [[Item:Q3033|Villa Dolce Cafe in the Madison Pizza Wiki database]]

==Notes==
<references />