After being closed for eight months, an Italian restaurant is receiving a second chance in downtown Renton.

“It turned out to be a nice idea, because lots of locals are coming back,” said Santiago Potenciano, owner of Vino Ristorante Italiano.

It’s the second time an Italian eatery has been reborn in the historic building, but for Potenciano it seemed a shame to let a fully equipped restaurant collect dust.

The upscale eatery offers about 23 wines by the glass for about $6-$9 each. Most of his wines are made locally or imported from Italy.

“I hate it when I go to places that they don’t have anything by the glass,” he said, adding, “I sell it pretty fast.”

A variety of antipasto platters with grilled vegetables, fresh mozzarella and pancetta make good company on a patio that sits facing South Third Street.

“It’s very refreshing out there,” he said.

The menu focuses on Tuscan foods, such as gnocchi, veal and sausage rigatoni.

However, with seafood dishes like Gamberoni Fiorentina, large prawns in a white wine sauce, some of the menu also speaks to Roman and Venetian influence.

The renovated 1930s house has the intimacy of a home with its smaller rooms and vaulted second-floor ceilings. Red draperies adorn the Tuscan yellow walls and conceal the entrance of a conference room, also dubbed the Mafia Room.

The home has hosted various restaurants over the years including one called Skooner’s Galley, said Liz Stewart, director of the Renton History Museum.

It was built in 1935 for Dan McGovern, a newspaper columnist and owner of the Renton Record-Chronicle until 1944, she said.

When current owner, Salvatore Lembo, bought the property about five years ago, it was a mom and pop Italian restaurant called Gene’s, he said with an Italian accent.

Lembo closed Vino after his business partner moved to California. He couldn’t run three restaurants on his own, Lembo said.

Potenciano has known Lembo since working as a bus boy at Firenze in Bellevue.

“He was a kid when he started working for me,” Lembo said.

He worked his way up the ladder and eventually helped Lembo open Guido Pizzeria, working as the restaurant manager, Potenciano said.

Eventually Potenciano quit his job and sold his house to travel Europe. He returned to other work.

However, a reunion of the friends over a bottle of wine spawned a conversation about Vino.

“He said,’Let’s go see it,'” Potenciano said. “I said, ‘I’ll open it if you want.'”

When Potenciano initially visited the closed Vino, its tables were set with linens and the kitchen was fully equipped. It was as if the restaurant closed overnight, he said.

“Everything was ready,” he said. “They didn’t tell people they were closing.”

Since opening, he hasn’t tampered with the menu much, and he even rehired the former chef, David Zubia, he said. “Everyone was happy to see him in the kitchen.”

Immigrating from south Mexico when he was 19, Potenciano slowly worked through community college studying engineering electronics.

The 37-year-old graduated last year but decided to stay in the business.

“I love Italian food,” he said.

Business has gradually picked up after opening in February, but the past month was hard for most restaurants in the area, he said. “Last month everyone was hurting.”

The restaurant is open for lunch from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. with slightly reduced prices, but one Friday afternoon there wasn’t a customer to be seen.

He’s still happy to be in Renton.

“One time I got sent to work here and I saw a lot of good clientele,” he said, and so he thought, “Let’s give it a try.”