On the outskirts of Fantasyland at Disneyland Paris is an unassuming cluster of buildings that brings a bit of Italian flair to the stretch between Sleeping Beauty Castle and It's a Small World. This is Pizzeria Bella Notte, a structure which looks as though it has stood several centuries (instead of just two decades), all thanks to the Imagineering art of character painting.
Pizzeria Bella Notte is dominated by an open courtyard for dining, complete with marble sculpture and a beautiful tile mosaic floor. Legend has it some of the pieces of tile here came from one of Mary Blair's murals done for Tomorrowland at Disneyland in 1967.
The exterior is classic Italian, even to the point that one of the facades seems to be listing a bit on an ancient foundation.
Step inside, though, and the decor transitions a bit from realistic to more exaggerated and "cartoonish."
Here is where you'll also come across references to the Disney film from which the restaurant gets its name, Lady and the Tramp. Famous Italian restaurateurs Tony and Joe are immortalized in stone columns, as well as frescoes recounting that "lovely bella notte" when Butch fell in love with the "cockerel-Spanish girl."
Between Pizzeria Bella Notte and the Castle Stage is another fun little corner. An ancient-looking stone facade creates a transition, bridging the looks of Italy and a medieval fairytale castle. The structure itself isn't much, but it does house restrooms. Regular readers of this blog know that one of my favorite Disney details is custom restroom signs, and this spot doesn't disappoint. The identifiers for men and women are painted on the stone walls, using the likenesses of Aurora's parents, the king and queen from Sleeping Beauty.
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