For the better part of a century, Mezza Luna Restaurant in Buzzards Bay has been at the heart of the Bourne community.

Imagining back to 1937, in the village of Buzzards Bay, really is not that difficult. Yet there are certain nuanced details to keep in mind when envisioning the year the Cubellis family set down roots at the edge of the bustling Cape Cod Canal. The world was coming out of the Great Depression, and any uncertainty or unrest from across the Atlantic in Europe was barely more than a murmur. The country had reason for optimism and plans for the future; The Golden Gate Bridge had just opened, Howard Hughes broke his own transcontinental speed record, the Bourne Bridge was a scant four years old and the “high-tech’ railroad bridge was a mere two years old. The railroad was a lifeline to the eastern part of Massachusetts, and Buzzards Bay was the beating heart with its modern and impressive train station at the head of Main Street, at the foot of the marvelous railroad bridge. 

The original site of the former Buzzards Bay Garage had been converted into a movie theater; a most popular form of entertainment for the era. And at the far end of Main Street, Speranza Cubellis opened a boarding house for the many workers the burgeoning area demanded. A bakery with wafting smells of Italian bread and pastries from Speranza’s ancestors’ old-world recipes, gave the local residents a reason to patronize their new neighbor. It was not long before the enterprising Italian immigrant opened a small restaurant, Mezza Luna, where she could cook for her boarders and start what would become a long, long relationship with her new community around the dinner table. Speranza’s son Johnny was ultimately tasked with overseeing...