Open since 1890, Roma Café has claimed to be the oldest Italian restaurant in Detroit.

The Sossi family has owned and operated Roma Café since 1918. Belcoure's late father, Hector Sossi, bought the restaurant from his uncle, Morris Sossi, who became a partner in the restaurant in 1918 and bought out the original owners, the Marazza family, the following year.

Hector Sossi, a Cleveland-born Italian-American, started working in the restaurant after World War II and bought it in from his uncle in 1965. Hector Sossi died in January 2016 at age 92.

Guy Pelino, who has been head chef at Roma for three years and worked at Mario's in Midtown for 14 years, said he's renovating the 154-seat restaurant and will reopen after Labor Day under the name of Roma's Cucina.

"We'll keep the same traditional dishes, keep the charm of the place," he said. "We don't want to lose any of the customers that have been coming here for years. We want to keep the legacy going."

After being unable to find a buyer, Belcoure said she decided to close the restaurant, dissolve the Roma Café name and the lease the building to Pelino.

“I grew up there and I’ve been running it all by myself the last 20 years and I’ve been there 38 years," Belcoure told Crain's. "It just became an impossibility anymore. I’m almost 64 years old and it’s a tough business.”

Pelino will lease the building from 3401 Riopelle LLC, a real estate holding company registered under Belcoure's husband, B.J. Belcoure.

On Roma Café's Twitter and Facebook pages, messages were posted July 1 saying the restaurant would be closed for the entire month "for pre-scheduled maintenance."

Pelino said he's painting, rebuilding the refrigerator and freezer and having a new air conditioning unit installed. A friend was helping him repair the original tin ceiling Friday.

He plans to reopen the restaurant as Roma's Cucina by early September.

"I'll know better in a couple of weeks when things are coming together," Pelino said. "Like anything that's old, when you move something, you find something else that needs to be done."

The restaurant is situated in two different buildings originally built in 1885 as a boarding house for farmers who traveled to Detroit from mid-Michigan to sell produce at Eastern Market, Belcoure said.

In 1890, the Marazza family turned the downstairs of both buildings into an Italian cafe that has served classic old-world cuisine every day since, Belcoure said.

“In my heart, I’m at peace with this decision and my dad was, too,” Belcoure said Friday. "It’s going to be different. It’s not the Roma. It’s going to be Guy’s thing."

In her retirement, Belcoure said she's going to remain active in Detroit's business community, continuing to serve on the boards of the Eastern Market Corp. and the newly established Detroit Restaurant Association.

“I feel confident that even if Roma Café will not exist as such that it is still a living, breathing restaurant as it was meant to be," Belcoure said. "I will not be a stranger.”