Nonnas stars Vince Vaughn as Joe Scaravella, a grieving Brooklyn-born man who opens a Staten Island restaurant staffed by four grandmothers. The 2025 Netflix comedy-drama is inspired by the real Joe Scaravella and Enoteca Maria, but its relationships and dramatic events are presented as a fictionalized movie story.
Nonnas stars Vince Vaughn as Joe Scaravella, a Brooklyn-born man who turns grief over his mother and grandmother into an unlikely Staten Island restaurant. The restaurant, Enoteca Maria, is staffed by four grandmothers—or “nonnas”—who cook food from their different Italian regions. The 2025 Netflix comedy-drama is inspired by the real Joe Scaravella and his restaurant, but its personal relationships and dramatic events belong to the film’s fictionalized story.
Netflix lists the film as a PG comedy/drama based on real life, with a runtime of approximately 1 hour and 52 minutes. Nonnas was directed by Stephen Chbosky from a screenplay by Liz Maccie.
Nonnas cast and characters
Vince Vaughn as Joe Scaravella
Joe Scaravella is the film’s protagonist. At the beginning of the story, he is stuck in what Netflix describes as a dead-end MTA job. The deaths of his nonna and mother leave him grieving and disconnected from the family traditions that once grounded him.
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Joe uses his mother’s insurance money to open Enoteca Maria, a restaurant in Staten Island where four Italian grandmothers cook regional dishes. The business is more than a risky new career: it is Joe’s attempt to preserve his connection to the women he has lost.
Vaughn is best known for comedies such as Wedding Crashers, but Joe is not simply a comic lead. His story is about turning mourning into action, learning to accept help, and allowing a memorial to become a living community.
Lorraine Bracco as Roberta
Roberta is Joe’s mother’s best friend of 60 years and the first nonna to agree to cook at Enoteca Maria. She is a proud Sicilian with firm ideas about what Italian food should be—and how it should be prepared.
Roberta is associated with a generations-old capuzzelle recipe. Netflix describes capuzzelle as a Sicilian specialty made with a lamb’s or sheep’s head, reflecting a traditional no-waste approach to cooking. The dish also illustrates how the film uses food to express heritage rather than treating the restaurant’s menu as generic “Italian food.”
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Roberta’s strongest kitchen conflict is with Antonella. Their arguments are often culinary disagreements, but they also reflect the regional identities and personal pride each woman brings to the restaurant. Bracco’s previous credits in Goodfellas and The Sopranos may make her especially recognizable to viewers, but Roberta’s role here is defined by her relationship with Joe and her place in the restaurant’s founding ensemble.
Brenda Vaccaro as Antonella
Antonella is a longtime customer of a Staten Island Italian market and Olivia’s devoted neighbor. She is the second nonna to join Enoteca Maria.
Widowed, outspoken, and fiercely attached to her Bolognese roots, Antonella quickly becomes one of the restaurant’s most forceful personalities. Her culinary arguments with Roberta—whose identity is Sicilian—create the film’s central kitchen rivalry. The conflict is not simply about which recipe is better; it is about the histories, memories, and regional loyalties attached to those recipes.
Joining the restaurant gives Antonella a renewed sense that her life still contains possibilities. Her relationship with Olivia also helps connect the older women at Enoteca Maria with the younger generation around Joe.
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Talia Shire as Teresa
Teresa is a former nun and the quiet, diligent counterpoint to Roberta and Antonella’s more flamboyant rivalry. Her reserved manner initially makes her seem less revealing than the other nonnas, but the film gradually shows that she has a complicated romantic history.
The other women help Teresa confront and process that history. As a result, Teresa expands the film’s emotional scope beyond food, grief, and restaurant management. Her story is also about late-life self-discovery and the possibility of acknowledging desires and experiences that have remained hidden.
Shire’s familiar screen history includes Rocky and The Godfather. In Nonnas, she serves as an understated but important part of the ensemble, giving the restaurant’s story a more reflective emotional register.
Susan Sarandon as Gia
Gia is the last of the four nonnas to join Enoteca Maria. She works as the restaurant’s pastry chef, bringing baking skills as well as a distinct perspective on aging and reinvention.
Gia is Joe’s mother’s lifelong friend and hairdresser, and she owns her own salon. That background makes her especially attuned to questions of beauty, visibility, and the way older women are perceived. She encourages the other nonnas to think differently about aging instead of treating it as a reason to withdraw from life.
Her influence is philosophical as much as culinary. Gia helps the restaurant become more than Joe’s memorial project. Under her influence, the women begin to see themselves as active participants in new chapters rather than people merely preserving the past.
Linda Cardellini as Olivia
Olivia has known Joe since high school, when the two shared a disastrous prom night. In the present-day story, she is a first-year law student living in Staten Island.
Olivia recruits Antonella and helps Joe handle the legal side of opening the restaurant. That makes her both a practical ally and a bridge between Joe’s past and his new life. She remembers the person Joe used to be, while also helping him build the business that changes his future.
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The film presents Olivia and Joe’s relationship as a possible romantic reconnection, but Olivia is not included merely as a love interest. Her legal assistance and her connection to Antonella give her an active role in the restaurant’s development.
Joe Manganiello as Bruno
Bruno has been Joe’s best friend since childhood. He initially doubts that Joe can run a restaurant because Joe has no relevant restaurant experience, but his skepticism does not make him an antagonist.
Bruno remains loyal and uses his contractor skills to help rebuild Enoteca Maria. He is the practical friend who turns Joe’s emotional idea into a physical place. The character also contributes one of the film’s recurring food items: a cutlet sandwich.
Drea de Matteo as Stella
Stella is Bruno’s wife and an outspoken neighborhood presence. She helps design the interior of Enoteca Maria and contributes to the restaurant’s sense of place.
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The four nonnas at Enoteca Maria
The restaurant’s central ensemble consists of Roberta, Antonella, Teresa, and Gia. They do not represent one interchangeable version of grandmotherhood. Roberta brings Sicilian pride and a forceful culinary identity; Antonella brings Bolognese tradition and outspoken loyalty; Teresa brings quiet discipline and an unexplored romantic past; and Gia brings pastry skills, confidence, and a philosophy of reinvention.
Their disagreements give the restaurant comic energy, while their personal stories make it emotionally credible as a chosen family. Joe opens the restaurant to remain connected to the women he lost, but the nonnas gradually make it their own shared space.
Supporting cast
Netflix’s official cast listing also names Michael Rispoli and Campbell Scott. The public listing does not identify their character names. Additional minor-role identifications come from third-party full-credit listings and should be treated as supporting credits rather than detailed character biographies:
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- Adam Ferrara as Arthur Romano
- Jimmy Smagula as Mr. Pionconne
- Theodore Helm as Young Joe
- Jack Casey as Young Bruno
- Jamie Eddy as Young Gabriella
- Kate Eastman as Maria
- Karen Giordano as Nonna
- Dee Roscioli as Young Roberta
- Tammy Pescatelli as Cousin Tammy
- Ali Lopez-Sohaili as Rigo
- Quincy Dunn-Baker as Vito
- Vladimir Caamano as Luis
- Taylor Selé as Omar
- Richie Moriarty as Dan McClane
- Eden Marryshow as Fire Marshall John Borrelli
Key relationships in Nonnas
| Characters | Relationship |
|---|---|
| Joe Scaravella and Roberta | Roberta is Joe’s mother’s longtime best friend and the first chef to join the restaurant. |
| Joe Scaravella and Gia | Gia is Joe’s mother’s lifelong friend and hairdresser, and becomes Enoteca Maria’s pastry chef. |
| Joe Scaravella and Olivia | They knew each other in high school, including a disastrous prom night, and reconnect as adults. |
| Joe Scaravella and Bruno | They are childhood best friends; Bruno provides construction expertise and loyal support. |
| Bruno and Stella | They are married, and Stella helps design the restaurant’s interior. |
| Roberta and Antonella | Their regional identities and strong opinions create the restaurant’s main culinary rivalry. |
| The four nonnas | Roberta, Antonella, Teresa, and Gia form the restaurant’s culinary and emotional ensemble. |
Is Nonnas based on a true story?
Yes, but Nonnas is not a documentary or a literal reconstruction of every event shown on screen. The film is inspired by Joe Scaravella and the real Enoteca Maria in Staten Island.
According to Netflix’s account of the restaurant’s history, Scaravella’s grandmother Domenica died in 1999. Missing her home cooking, he eventually opened Enoteca Maria in 2007. The real restaurant began with Italian grandmothers representing different regions of Italy.
The movie uses that premise as the foundation for a character-driven story. Joe’s relationships with Olivia, Bruno, and Stella are part of the film’s narrative presentation; the available official material does not establish that every relationship or event corresponds directly to a real person or occurrence. It is more accurate to call the movie “inspired by” Scaravella’s life than to describe it as a scene-by-scene true story.
The real Enoteca Maria and Nonnas of the World
The real Enoteca Maria is located on Hyatt Street in Staten Island. Netflix describes it as a restaurant that accepts reservations by phone and is open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, while advising visitors to check the restaurant’s calendar for the cuisine being served. Hours, reservations, and menus can change, so anyone planning to visit Enoteca Maria should confirm current information through the official restaurant site.
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesThe real restaurant eventually expanded beyond Italian cooking. Beginning in July 2015, Scaravella developed the “Nonnas of the World” concept, inviting grandmothers from culinary traditions including Japan, Paraguay, Ukraine, Peru, Greece, and the Dominican Republic to cook alongside Italian nonnas. The current restaurant’s offerings should not automatically be assumed to match the menu shown in the film.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Food terms in Nonnas
- Capuzzelle
- A Sicilian specialty made from lamb’s or sheep’s head. In the film, it is associated with Roberta and reflects a no-waste culinary tradition.
- Zeppole
- Deep-fried treats highlighted in a flashback to Joe’s childhood.
- Mutande
- Italian for “underwear.” The word appears in a joke about Joe asking for the secret to his late nonna’s sauce.
- Enoteca
- Netflix explains that the word translates as “wine shop” and is also used for a restaurant where food and wine are enjoyed together.
These terms add cultural and comic context to the movie, but they should not be treated as a complete glossary of Italian culinary usage.
Who directed and wrote Nonnas?
Stephen Chbosky directed Nonnas, and Liz Maccie wrote the screenplay. The producers are Gigi Pritzker, Rachel Shane, and Jack Turner. Additional executive producers include Vince Vaughn and Jody Scaravella.
Frequently asked questions
Where can viewers watch Nonnas?
Nonnas is a Netflix film. Availability can vary by country and can change over time, so viewers should check the local Netflix catalog for the current listing before attempting to watch Nonnas on Netflix.
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Is Stanley Tucci in Nonnas?
No. Stanley Tucci is not in Nonnas. The confusion may come from the film’s Italian-American restaurant setting and comparisons with Tucci’s Big Night, but Tucci is not part of this cast.
Who are the four nonnas?
The four nonnas are Roberta, played by Lorraine Bracco; Antonella, played by Brenda Vaccaro; Teresa, played by Talia Shire; and Gia, played by Susan Sarandon.
What does “nonnas” mean?
“Nonnas” is the plural of the Italian word commonly used for grandmothers. In the film, it refers to the grandmothers who cook at Joe Scaravella’s restaurant.
Is the restaurant in the movie real?
Yes. Enoteca Maria is a real Staten Island restaurant inspired by Joe Scaravella’s experience. However, the movie dramatizes the people and events surrounding the restaurant, and its fictional menu or storyline should not be assumed to reproduce the restaurant’s current operations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where can viewers watch Nonnas?
Nonnas is a Netflix film. Availability varies by country and may change, so check the local Netflix catalog.
Is Stanley Tucci in Nonnas?
No. Stanley Tucci does not appear in Nonnas. The confusion likely comes from the film’s Italian-American restaurant setting and comparisons with Big Night.
Who are the four nonnas in the movie?
The four nonnas are Roberta, played by Lorraine Bracco; Antonella, played by Brenda Vaccaro; Teresa, played by Talia Shire; and Gia, played by Susan Sarandon.
Is the restaurant in Nonnas real?
Yes. Enoteca Maria is a real Staten Island restaurant inspired by Joe Scaravella’s experience. The film’s relationships and events are dramatized, however, so it is not a literal documentary account.
What does “nonnas” mean?
“Nonnas” is the plural of the Italian word commonly used for grandmothers. In the film, it refers to the grandmothers who cook at Joe Scaravella’s restaurant.
The Bottom Line
Nonnas combines a real restaurant premise with a fictionalized ensemble story: Vince Vaughn’s Joe Scaravella opens Enoteca Maria, while Lorraine Bracco, Brenda Vaccaro, Talia Shire, and Susan Sarandon play the four nonnas who turn his memorial project into a living community.
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