BRIDGEPORT – At times, some 600 customers would line up outside the door before the holidays at the Del Prete Italian Bakery on Main Street, the owner remembered. Now, its fate is uncertain after a fire forced its sudden closure last August.

Six months later, Louis Mezzo, the owner of the 77-year-old bakery at 1885 Main St., Bridgeport, said he is planning to reopen before the one-year anniversary of the blaze. 

But he is not sure if the damaged building where the bakery started in 1948 by his father John Mezzo and his cousin, Fred Del Prete, will be repaired in time, he said.

An old photo showing an early sign at Del Prete Italian Bakery.

Customers have recently speculated on social media if the business was closed for good. Many miss it — especially the bakery’s cannoli cake with the rich cream spread between layers of flaky pastry.

“A lot of people write that they haven't found a duplicate exactly like the way we made it. If if we had 50 cakes going out on a Saturday, maybe 30 of them were cannoli cakes,” he said of the signature pastry.

Mezzo said he is considering moving the business to another site.

“We are looking at different locations and that's about all we could say for now. And I'm saying to our customers and fans, just be patient,” Mezzo said. “It's not easy dealing with the insurance and then also with mechanics that can move really, really heavy equipment, take it apart and reassemble it.”

The fire, Mezzo said, started in a neighboring building and the cause remains "undetermined,” he added.

He said he misses working there and his staff.

“I want to get busy again and the people that I had on staff will rejoin us,” Mezzo said.

He said his decision depends on how quickly the building can be repaired, and what the owner of the structure plans to do. “That's going to make determination,” he said.

“If we owned the building, we would have been back already,” he added.

Mezzo himself has a long history with the bakery there. When he was 10, he’d walk to the bakery after Sunday religious classes at St. Raphael’s church three blocks away and his father would drive him home for dinner. 

While waiting for his father, he’d get to work. “I’d put the cherries on the cookies. I used to soak the rum babas in the hot rum,” he recalled.

Beyond the nostalgia, Mezzo says he is mostly looking forward to getting back to serving his customers.

“When they tell us how good it was and they're smiling on their faces, you know, that's kind of like, I could say like a B12 shot. It really gives us a lift,” Mezzo said.

Feb 12, 2026