Mario’s Italian Lemonade Reopens For The Season In Little Italy

LITTLE ITALY — Mario’s Italian Lemonade is back.

The famous shaved ice stand, 1068 W. Taylor St., quietly reopened Monday night, according to its Facebook page. Owners declared Mario’s was “open for summer” as customers lined up for frozen lemonade despite rainy, 40-degree weather.

Mario’s has been a mainstay in the neighborhood since 1954, when Mario DiPaolo Jr. helped his parents, Mario Sr. and Dorothy DiPaolo, open the family shop. The DiPaolo family still owns and operates it.

A menu on the Mario’s Facebook page lists its flavors as banana, blue raspberry, cantaloupe, cherry, chocolate, coconut, fruit cocktail, grape, lemon, lime, orange, piña colada, pineapple, pomegranate, strawberry, watermelon, grapefruit, green apple, honeydew, mango, peach and lychee.

The flavors are made by hand from squeezed fruit, sugar and ice.

Mario’s typically opens May 1 and closes in September.

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