Johns Creek is about to gain a new Italian restaurant with origins that reach well beyond metro Atlanta.

Nonna Lucia Italian is preparing to open at 11030 Medlock Bridge Road, Suite 160, with a mid-August debut planned. The restaurant is being developed by Rome native Alexander Richards, who has spent much of his life working in hospitality and most recently managed di Paolo in Roswell.

Richards began working around restaurants as a child and later built experience in Italy, Australia, England and the United States. Nonna Lucia is his attempt to bring that background together in a restaurant centered more specifically on Roman cooking and the style of hospitality he grew up around.

That distinction could help the restaurant stand out in a part of North Fulton already rich in Italian options. Johns Creek diners have no shortage of pizza, pasta and familiar Italian-American dishes, but restaurants built around a more regional identity remain less common.

Nonna Lucia is expected to lean into that regional character rather than simply presenting another broad Italian menu. Richards has described the concept as an expression of the food and hospitality of Rome, with an emphasis on authenticity and a more personal dining experience.

The timing is also favorable. Johns Creek’s restaurant landscape is entering another period of growth, particularly along Medlock Bridge Road and around newer destinations such as Medley. At the same time, established corridors continue to attract independent operators who see room for concepts with a stronger point of view.

The restaurant’s opening would also keep Richards in familiar territory. After working at di Paolo in nearby Roswell, he is launching his own concept only a short drive away, giving diners who knew him there a new reason to follow his next chapter.

If the current schedule holds, Nonna Lucia should begin welcoming diners later this month.