Lucille on Wooster Street with former President Bill Clinton.
Lucille Berretta Sacco of New Haven died peacefully on February 13, 2022, in Yale New Haven Hospital-St. Raphael Campus. She was the loving and devoted wife of 68 years to Anthony Sacco — and the “Lucille” of Tony & Lucille’s Restaurant, a mainstay of Wooster Square’s “Little Italy” for generations.
Lucille in front of the restaurant.
Lucille was born in New Haven on December 14, 1936 to the late Dominic and Constance Teodosio Berretta. She and her husband owned and operated Tony & Lucille’s for 53 years, starting on the corner of Wooster and Chestnut, then moving to the new restaurant at Wooster and Brown Street. The restaurant was a New Haven institution, where anyone from local residents to national celebrities came to dine.
At the restaurant, Lucille always greeted everyone with a smile and a kind word. She watched diners’ children in the back room or their pets out on the sidewalk so they could enjoy their dinner. She would also help the dishwashers clean the dishes in the kitchen.
“She treated everybody like family,” recalled daughter Maria Sacco-Torres.
The couple retired in 2019.
Besides Maria, Lucille was the loving mother of Frank (Sandra) Sacco, Donna (Domenico) Aurioso, Anne (Anthony) Grecco and the late Anthony Sacco, Jr. Sister of the late Josephine Gargano, Rubino “Ruby” Proto, Nancy Berretta, Anna (Nina) Longobardi, Louise Sulpasso, Antoinette Marsico and Theresa Penna. She loved and adored her grandchildren Daniella (Christopher) Sharma, Louis (Alyssa) Torres, Anthony (Erika) Grecco, Nicole (Danny) Colmenares, Sandra (Mike) Torres and Anthony Sacco and her great-grandchildren Frankie Imperato, Christiana Sharma, Joseph Torres and Nicola Colmenares.
Visiting hours will be Thursday evening from 4 – 7 p.m., in the Iovanne Funeral Home, Inc., 11 Wooster Pl., New Haven. Masks are required in the funeral home. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Friday morning at 10 in St. Michael Church. Entombment will follow in All Saints Mausoleum. In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital www.stjude.org. Share a memory and sign Lucille’s guest book online at www.iovanne.com.
Tony and Lucille.