Heritage of Hospitality: Martignettis Expand Local Presence in Gloucester, Cape Ann

Photos by Linda Campos

Adding the role of restaurateur to a full resume that already included lawyer and commercial real estate developer was a natural decision for Ron Martignetti.

Before he went to law school, Ron and his brothers had experience running nightclubs, bars and hotels. Plus, as he puts it, “the Martignetti name is synonymous with liquor importing, wholesaling and retailing” in the Boston area.

Hospitality, it seems, is in the family’s blood.

In 2022, Ron made good on that long-standing wish to return to hospitality with the opening of the swanky Italian restaurant Sogno. The name, appropriately, means “dream” in Italian.

Think updated Frank, Sammy and Dino glamour: sleek red neon sign and large patio outside, dark wood and tailored leather banquettes inside; a seasonal Italian menu, craft cocktails and an extensive and well-curated wine list. It’s a cosmopolitan spot that belies its suburban setting on the Woburn-Winchester line.

Sogno is where Ron can now be found seven days a week practicing the brand of hospitality he’s always been dreaming of, chatting with guests and overseeing the restaurant’s large dining room—taking breaks as needed for his other job: patriarch to a growing wing of the Martignetti clan, many of whom are also part of the business.

“If there’s a way we can do it better, we will. Everything has to be the finest we know how to do,” Ron says of how his family company, Martignetti Hospitality, approaches things at Sogno and its other properties. He says the aim is for a welcoming, family atmosphere, but an elevated one.

That means sweating the details. He recalls a “knockdown, drag out” disagreement over silverware during the design of Sogno. After going several rounds, Ron’s vision for what fit the elegant surroundings won out. He found his well-fought-for choice validated at his son’s wedding held at a world-class resort which used the same cutlery he had chosen.

Getting details right at Sogno also means creating a menu—based on Ron’s own family dinners—that represents all regions of Italy and makes use of high-quality imported Italian products and as much local produce as possible.

“So obviously we have shorter growing seasons here in New England, but every opportunity our chef gets to get local produce, we capitalize on it. And a lot of our imported goods are finished here in the U.S. We’ve got a purveyor based out of New Jersey that imports Italian milk for their cheese,” Ron says.

It also means curating an extensive wine program with an emphasis on Italian varietals. The 2,000-plus-bottle collections include decades-old vintages from the collection of Ron’s late father, who sold his share in the Martignetti family liquor business to other relatives in the 1980s. In its first year in business, Sogno was recognized with a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence.

As servers finish clearing plates of arancini, carpaccio and rigatoni alla Bolognese at the end of a busy lunch service, Ron and son John Paul sit down to talk about how the family approach to hospitality continues to expand with a new group of hotels on Cape Ann. Son Mark, who also helps run the business, is overseeing construction of one of them in Gloucester.

Two years ago, the group purchased the Inn at Good Harbor Beach, a beachfront staple in Gloucester for over a century. After two seasons of operating the property, they are now undertaking a major renovation project that will update the inn, adding modern amenities. It will also include access to a private stretch of beach that the group purchased a few years ago.

“We’re striving to be the best-in-class product between Boston and Maine. We’re going back to respect the historical nature of what had been there. But it’s going to be extraordinarily modernized, with a much higher level of finish,” John Paul says of the property, which is scheduled to open later in 2025.

At the turn of the 20th century, Gloucester was a wildly popular seaside destination. Artists, tourists and city-dwellers from New England and beyond made the trek to Gloucester by automobile, train or steamboat to enjoy the “delightful climate and varied attractiveness she offers,” as promised in a publication of the day from the Gloucester Board of Trade.

Then, Gloucester was home to many grand seaside hotels, few of which still survive. According to a video presentation from the Cape Ann Museum, East Gloucester alone boasted more than 2,200 hotel rooms in 1900. By 2024, there were fewer than 300.

A Summer Hotel Guide to Gloucester published in 1905 lists 17 grand hotels, some of which served up to 300 or 400 guests, plus a dozen or more smaller cottages and guesthouses. Many of the large wooden buildings have been destroyed by fire over the years. One such hotel, the Colonial Arms, was built in 1904 and booked solidly until it burnt down on New Year’s Eve just four years later, possibly due to sparks from the chimney. John Paul notes that from 1900 to 1930 many grand hotels were lost to fires caused by candles and fireplaces. More were lost to arson in the 1950s.

Among the structures that burned was a large four-story wooden hotel which was the predecessor to the Inn at Good Harbor Beach. The smaller building that now stands in its place was built in the late 1950s. Like many beachfront hotels of that era, it was a seasonal structure. The current plan is to blend modern luxury with the past and make the inn a year-round destination.

“The beach in the peak of the season is somewhere the whole world wants to be. But in the off season, it’s a wonderful escape, a 45-minute drive at most from Boston. You can spend the weekend, escape for a few days of peace and serenity, walk the beach or simply sit in your room and look out the window,” says John Paul.

One of the main reasons Gloucester was such a popular tourist destination from the start was its surrounding community. John Paul sees connecting guests to the rich resources of Gloucester and Cape Ann as one of the attractions of the new inn. The hotel will feature a continental breakfast from local purveyors, but rather than offering a full-service restaurant on site, the hotel will direct guests to the many dining options in the area. In early conversations with the City of Gloucester on the project, the Martignetti Group highlighted their goal of driving customers to the shops and restaurants of the local community year-round.

“The beauty of that is that we get to know so many local businesses and create partnerships with them to provide the best-in-class experience to our guests. And that includes food, but also tourist experiences like whale watches and deep sea fishing, or directing people to Rocky Neck to experience the art galleries. There are so many small local businesses that we’re trying to make connections with so that we can create partnerships for the benefit of all,” John Paul says.

The group will soon establish a similar presence in Rockport with the recent purchase of two new properties: Captain’s Bounty on the Beach and Captain’s Bounty Beach View. Together, they offer 42 rooms in downtown Rockport near Bearskin Neck, opening for the season in April. Similar to their commitment in Gloucester, the Martignettis’ plan in Rockport is to spend time learning about the inns and their existing guests’ interests and how that connects to the Rockport community so they can design their hospitality around it.

“The guest experience is brief. So, you have to look at every detail closely to make sure that in the short window of time, it leaves a mark. We want to make sure that at every opportunity, we take what is standard and elevate it. We want to create a ‘wow’ moment every step of the way such that it becomes a recurring experience,” John Paul says.

captainsbountybeachview.com
innatgoodharborbeach.com
sognoitalian.com

This story appeared in the Spring 2025 issue.