Take one: my goddaughter from Brown and I are looking for somewhere to eat off-campus. Clutching hand-written directions, we brave the drive to a tucked-away corner of Cranston, to an eatery justly favored by locals for its grilled pizza and calzones. But Campanella’s should also be known for generous salads, delicious pasta dishes, homemade bread with whipped honey-butter, and, most of all, the restaurant’s friendly and well-trained staff.

For a leisurely lunch, Tarra and I ordered a salad and two small pizzas (10-inch): a pepperoni with tomato sauce ($7.30) for her, and a "pizza Nicholas" ($10.95) for me. Out waitress told us that the Nicholas was her favorite, and I could quickly see why. It features sautéed eggplant discs, quartered artichoke hearts, slices of roasted red peppers, dollops of feta and smatterings of mozzarella. These toppings were on a garlic-and-oil-brushed crust that was nicely grilled and especially tasty in its seven-grain incarnation.

Tarra and I both liked the thick-sliced bread with our salad, and she was very impressed with the thin and crispy crust that contrasted with the tomato sauce, cheese, and pepperoni. It was a quiet Wednesday afternoon at Campanella’s, and the privacy of our booth gave us a good opportunity to chat.

Take two: Bill and I go back on a Saturday night for supper, arriving at 5 p.m., because we have another engagement in town, and I’m worried there might be a line. My instincts were on the money. When we arrive, the place is half-full. When we leave, there are no fewer than 25 people lined up to get in. It’s that good.

A couple of weeks before this visit, Bill had consumed a take-home calzone from Campanella’s — "Number 8," with baked ham, ricotta, mushrooms, and cheddar — and loved every bite of the cheese combination and the thin crust. This time, he began to look at pasta dishes. Most are quite straightforward: a choice of penne, spaghetti, cappellini, or ravioli ($1 extra) with meatballs or sausage; with veal, chicken, or eggplant parmigiana; or with sautéed peppers or mushrooms. There are also two baked variations: ricotta, cheddar, and tomato sauce, or feta, provolone, tomato sauce, and a choice of spinach or broccoli (pasta gardiniera).

All of the pasta dinners come with a salad and bread, and each is a bargain ($7.25-$11.25). We decided to split the pasta gardiniera with spinach ($9.40) and then moved to the pizza/calzone side of the menu in search of another item to share. There are 17 variations on the calzone theme, each with homemade crust, either white or wheat dough. They range from chicken tenders, meatballs, turkey breast, or tuna fish, to veggie combos with spinach, roasted peppers, onions, broccoli, and/or mushrooms, with various cheeses.

But our heart belonged to pizza that night, and we settled on one with mushrooms and tomato sauce, and sausage on one half. We chose the seven-grain crust, and although a little crunchier with whole grains than I’d remembered from my previous visit, it was still great.

The pasta gardiniera was wonderfully restrained. Not drowned in tomato sauce, the penne were dolloped with feta and spinach and sprinkled with provolone. This gave each ingredient a chance to shine, and it made the baked dish unusually good. My one quibble is that fresh spinach would make this gardiniera even better.

On the docket for sweet endings to our meal were raspberry-almond torte, mini-cheesecakes and a chocolate-dipped vanilla gelato, none of them house-made. The gelato grabbed Bill’s attention, and it turned out to be plenty for two. With a cherry tucked in the middle of this frozen ball, the whole was coated with dark chocolate and served with whipped cream. It was as good as it sounds.

Campanella’s is an old-fashioned Italian restaurant, with booths lining the sides of the L-shaped space and the divider between the bar and the dining room. It has a few tables sprinkled in the middle and accommodations for large groups at the back. On the long side of the dining room are four murals, painted as if from a piazza overlooking a vineyard.

The perspective on the vineyard changes from near to far, as does the view of a hillside town in the background. But the most eye-catching aspect of these paintings are the almost-silhouetted people in the foreground. From young to old, they capture the flair and the passion of the Italian people, enjoying their food and wine. And so will you, at Campanella’s.