BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — A North End restaurant closed its doors this week after more than 30 years in business.

Dolce Vita Ristorante on Hanover Street serves authentic Italian dishes such as chicken parmigiana, fettuccine alfredo, lasagna, linguini with mussels and veal marsala, celebrating the life made popular by Federico Fellini’s 1960 film of the same name.

“Sweet Life,” translated owner Franco Graceffa. “It was a scandalous film at the time. It was a new style in Rome in the 1950s. Everyone went crazy.”

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After moving to the United States from Italy as a young man and working in the construction industry, Graceffa and his wife Caroline opened Dolce Vita in 1990 with a passion for good food and good living.

Decades later, the restaurant owner decided it was time to retire.

“I’m retiring and I sold the whole building, the restaurant, after 36 years. A very good time,” Graceffa told WBZ NewsRadio on Saturday.

This “very good development” also included surviving the COVID pandemic, which put an end to many other restaurants.

“COVID has caused a lot of damage. I was lucky that I owned the property and everything else that kept me alive,” Graceffa said.

As he hugged and kissed people goodbye, Graceffa looked back on the American dream come true.

“(America) was the land of opportunity, the land that gave me what I have today and made me what I am today through my hard work and sacrifices. I lived my American dream,” Graceffa said.