The people at Tutta Bella are serious about pizza and they're not afraid to brag about it.

Everything from the color scheme of the restaurant — deep reds and doughy crèmes — to the displays of imported and certified ingredients to the prominent presentation of the kitchen and wood-fire oven to the bubbling atmosphere bespeaks an ardent commitment to the famed Italian offering.

Thankfully, it isn't all for show — Tutta Bella's does have much to brag about.

A late Tuesday evening met patrons with an almost 30-minute wait with one side of the Fremont establishment packed for a talk (in Italian, over many glasses of red wine, of course) by one of the principal growers for San Marzano, the supplier of Tutta Bella's tomatoes.

Our stomachs rumbling, we agonizingly watched as circles of fluffy dough flew from the kitchen into the air and then were thrust into the large rustic oven.

Indeed, Tutta Bella's is so serious about the authenticity of their pizza, they have their entire pizza-making process — from form to organic ingredients — certified by the Associazione Vera Pizza Napoletana in Naples, Italy.

Despite the fact that our hunger pains had now reached almost operatic proportions, we were courteously seated and all previous sensation of deprivation was drowned out by the prompt pouring of a rich and delicious Barolo — Tutta Bella's featured red wine of the month.

Wonderfully, the restaurant has adapted the Italian tradition of long meals — albeit without the long interludes between courses — and once we were seated our service bordered on exceptional.

The Caesar salad (small $6/large $9) was garnished with generous shavings of parmigiano reggiano and perfectly seasoned. To our benefit, it was not drenched in dressing as is so often the case.

Then, no sooner than the last crouton was devoured, our pizza arrived. And Domino's it was not.

The prosciutto e rucola ($11) was covered in a light layer of tomato sauce with modest dollops of mozzarella and topped with thin slices of Parma prosciutto and arugula.

A key word for Tutta Bella's pizzas is restraint. These aren't the Bigfoots you used to devour with teammates at soccer parties. One is barely enough for two individuals (sans appetizers). And the toppings nowhere near fit the description of the sacrilegious "deep-dish."

The effect, however, was remarkable. Tutta Bella's dough is almost heavenly light, thin and fluffy with the perfect amount of seared bubbles. Together, the prosciutto and arugula created a satisfying salty and spicy combination that was well complemented by the mild mozzarella.

My only complaint, however, was the sauce, which lacked the punch I desire from a tomato sauce. Next to the extravagance of the other exotic toppings, it came off as bland and uninspired.

In the end, the best part of our meal was the dessert.

Tutta Bella's use of Italian attibassi espresso was perfectly smooth and rich and possessed the exactly the right proportion of crema.

By the time we got to the gelato, a delightful combination of hazelnut and chocolate, blurry-eyed and jeans-extended, we had realized that, tutta bella, everything was beautiful after all.

— Maureen Trantham