(bright music) - [Dara] Whether you've been to Italy or not, once you step inside Nonna Maria's Italian Deli & Market, you might feel like you're there.

- [Enza] As we place orders, we try and bring in new products, authentic Italian great food.

- [Dara] That includes tender meats like prosciutto and salami, aged cheeses, perfectly packaged sugary treats and pastas that vary and shape and size.

- [Enza] That's what we eat when I go to Italy.

It's how we eat when we're here at home.

- [Dara] For co-owner Enza Pilla, it's important to create an atmosphere inside her Matthews business that showcases the food she grew up eating.

- That's how I was raised.

You know, my mom cooked all the time and it was delicious.

(laughs) You know, there was never a bad meal.

- [Dara] Pilla remembers her mother, Maria, an Italian immigrant making dishes from her native country and their New York home.

She also remembers tasting those same dishes overseas.

- Every summer, me, my mom and my sister would be off to Italy, and then my dad would meet us.

So you get up, you have breakfast, you go hang out, play around a little bit.

You come back for lunch, you know, a big lunch.

- [Dara] Big lunches mean more to Pilla now since losing her mother.

So when she opened Nonna Maria's in 2022 with her husband, Rich, there was no question about who it would be named after.

- [Enza] She was my best friend, so this is the least I could do for her.

- [Dara] For one New York customer, the business reminds him of childhood memories with his own mom.

- In our town, we had an Italian deli, and my mom used to shop at 'em religiously and get all kinds of stuff, and she was a pretty good Italian cook.

- [Dara] After seeing a post on Facebook, Rick Swartenberg decided to come to the deli with his wife.

They ordered the Reuben sandwich, held hands to say grace and savored every single bite, - The whole menu looked good, but, you know, you can only try so much at one time.

- [Dara] Swartenberg is right.

With over 18 sandwiches on the menu, various desserts and bagels fresh from the toaster, you can't enjoy them all at once.

Food isn't the only piece of Italy the owners want their customers to experience.

- Before we opened, we didn't know what colors to paint inside.

And I said, well, let's think about this.

It's an Italian deli, right?

What's the Italian colors?

Well, I said, let's do that.

We'll pick three colors and we'll just run it through.

- [Dara] Pilla's husband and co-owner, Rich Garcia, tells me they were intentional with every piece of decor.

Beige maps on each table outlining Italian cities, upholstery fabric with images of pasta and pictures hanging on the walls of cobblestone robes and homes in Italy.

- I talk about blood, sweat, and tears.

Forget about it.

It was a lot of work, but we did it.

We finally got it together.

You know, I did all the painting, I did the floors.

We shipped my brother-in-Law down from New York.

He helped me with all the counters and some other minor things.

- [Dara] And if you pay close attention to the walls near the menu, you'll notice a New York Yankees flag and a New York City Police Department sign, a few mementos to remind them of the state they left behind.

The couple moved from the Big Apple to Charlotte in 2020 with their daughter, Abby, to escape the hustle and bustle, but were disappointed when they couldn't find any Italian business similar to what they had back home.

- When we first came down here, we were looking for this type of establishment, and we went to a couple of places that we just did not like.

- [Dara] This pushed them to create their own business, one that had everything they loved about New York and Italy.

- We started with tossing the idea of let's open just like an Italian market.

And then that became, well, why not breakfast?

And then that became, well, why not lunch?

And then this has just snowballed into where we are today.

- Because of my hometown and upbringing, it was a high Italian population where I grew up, and the Italian foods and special foods were a big part of it.

When I saw what Nonna's was gonna be, it piqued my interest, 'cause there's really not that many in the area.

- [Dara] Regular customer, John Peattie, grew up in Northeast Ohio and has been a fan of Italian food for decades, so much so that he makes his own dishes at home.

But he says there's something special about coming into a place like Nonna Maria's.

- Of course, I couldn't help not get a sandwich.

I went outside.

I sat there and ate it.

It was one of the most delicious sandwiches I've ever had in my life.

- [Dara] As customers continue to walk away with a little piece of Italy, Pilla smiles, knowing her mother would be proud.

For "Carolina Impact," I'm Dara Khalid.