Nicola Pizza, a Rehoboth Beach institution for almost 50 years, is closing both of its current locations and moving to Lewes, the restaurant announced on Facebook Sunday afternoon. "Please know that this was not an easy decision — to leave the home we have loved for so long — but an amazing opportunity has presented itself and we simply could not pass it up," the post reads.

Both locations — the original on North First Street and the two-story bar and restaurant on the avenue — will stay open until the grand opening of the new restaurant at the Ocean One Plaza on Route 1 in Lewes in fall 2021. Nicholas Caggiano Sr., the son of Italian immigrants, and his wife, Joan, opened Nicola Pizza in 1971.