La Lanterna di Vittorio

Specialties

This iconic Greenwich Village café features thin crust pizza, fine Italian pastries, a broad selection of wine and liquor, a vibrant year-​round garden, 4 working fireplaces, live jazz, Tarot by Janet Horton every Sunday evening, and ROMANCE in spades! Bring a colleague, friend, or lover and see for yourself. We will not disappoint.

History

Established in 1977.

The second restaurant established by Carlo and Marissa Antonini in the late 70s, La Lanterna was one of the first real Italian Cafes in Greenwich Village. Under the management of Vittorio Antonini since the mid 80s, La Lanterna has evolved from a café serving largely coffee and dessert into the full service restaurant and Jazz Club that it is today. Stop by to visit Marissa, Vittorio, or Vittorio Jr 7 days a week. We love to meet and chat with our customers, old and new, and always strive to make you feel at home in our family’s dining room.

Meet the Business Owner

Vittorio A.

Business Owner

Vittorio Antonini started working at La Lanterna as a teenager in the early 80s alongside his mother and father, the restaurants founders Carlo and Marissa, as well as his older sister, Nicla. After attending Xavier High School in Manhattan and Villanova University in Pennsylvania he welcomed the birth of his son, Vittorio Jr, in ’86. Upon returning to New York to raise his family, he afforded his father an early retirement by taking over the restaurant in every capacity possible. In ’94 he co-​founded a night club, Bohemia, in the small coastal town of his family’s heritage Lerici with Maurizio Fumanelli partner in the gritty Tribeca rock club, Don Hills. In 2004 he branched out into the real estate industry by purchasing the building that houses La Lanterna, 129 MacDougal St and subsequently 3 development sites in Brooklyn, NY. Following in the footsteps of his father before him, Vittorio has and continues to be a proven successful restaurateur, developer, and wonderful patriarch.