The Italian countryside can now be experienced in Bowling Green. Cucina di Betto a full service Italian restaurant opened its doors to the public this week.

Chris DiBenedetto, owner of the restaurant said, he believes Cucina di Betto offers a new variety to Bowling Green. “There is not another Italian restaurant within 20 miles,” DiBenedetto said.

Cucina di Betto offers a wide range of Italian specialties including five different pastas, seven different sauces, chicken parmesan, Tuscan chicken ravioli, steak and eggplant parmesan.

The Italian eatery fills a void on Main Street.

“Consistently we have heard comments of the need for an Italian eatery,” Earlene Kilpatrick, director of Main Street BG, said.

The DiBenedetto family has been a part of Bowling Green since 1979. The family currently runs the sub shop DiBenedetto’s on Wooster Street.

The idea for the new restaurant came after hearing about the future construction along Wooster Street. DiBenedetto said he believed the construction would take away some of the eateries business.

DiBenedetto’s will still remain open. DiBenedetto said the eatery will focus more on catering once the construction begins. “Since it will be hard for people to come to us, we will try to come to them,” DiBenedetto said.

Cucina di Betto satisifies a desire for DiBenedetto to have a restaurant downtown. He said he wanted to be in the downtown ever since it was renovated.

Inside the restaurant are windows with paintings that look out on a vineyard.

“It definitely adds additional flavor to the choices we have downtown,” Kilpatrick said.

Cucina di Betto is located at 121 S. Main St. The restaurant is open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for lunch and 4:30 p.m. to 11 for dinner. The restaurant seats 60, with six more at the bar.