Italian Village Restaurants

Italian Village is a Chicago institution. Founder Alfredo Capitanini emigrated from Tuscany to Chicago in 1924, and in 1927 he opened the restaurant at 71 W. Monroe Street in the Loop, building it as a tribute to his Northern Italian roots, with dishes inspired by his hometown of Lucca. Nearly a century later, it's Chicago's oldest Italian restaurant and still fourth-generation, family-owned. The original restaurant, The Village, sits on the top floor, where a blue ceiling strung with lights mimics a starry sky and individual booths are set up like buildings in a small Italian village.

A place with this much history deserves imagery that does it justice. We came in to photograph Italian Village for its marketing materials, capturing what makes The Village unlike anywhere else in the city: the warm glow of the dining room under its starlit ceiling, the character of the village-style booths, the classic dishes coming out of the kitchen, and the details that have made generations of Chicagoans feel at home. The goal was simple: show both longtime regulars and first-time guests exactly what it feels like to walk up those stairs.

Italian Village now has a fresh library of professional photos ready for its website, social media, menus, and print materials, giving the restaurant a polished, consistent look that matches the experience inside. For a restaurant that has stayed true to itself for nearly 100 years, the right photography doesn't reinvent anything. It simply invites a new generation to come see it for themselves.