No longer confused with Bacco, Il Baccio, or Bricco, Il Bico was bought by the owners of Bomboa last November. This might be very promising for fans of Nuevo Latino food, but in fact, Il Bico’s menu of Tuscan and Umbrian specialties wasn’t broken, and the new owners haven’t had to fix it. They’ve even kept on a former manager, an Italian contessa, as hostess. What they have done is buff up the food a little, so this is now one of the better North Italian dining rooms in the city, especially in terms of pasta.

One thing they haven’t fixed yet is the limited wine list, especially odd in a restaurant that still has signage announcing it as an "enoteca," or wine bar. Some of those signs have been punned into "bicoteca," which makes more sense, since the lower room, two levels below the sidewalk, is now a beer-and-wine bar serving the eponymous bichi. A bico is an old Etruscan rolled flatbread, sort of like a quesadilla. It comes in four flavors, all enticing, and makes a dandy appetizer or light meal. Our bico with mozzarella and spinach ($6) was six neat rolls, flavored mainly by the fresh mozzarella.

The same real buffalo mozzarella stole the caprese salad ($8), although the tomatoes were pretty good for June, and the fresh basil was excellent. And the cheese took a pretty good shot at leading the antipasto della casa ($12.95 for two), which also features real prosciutto, good mortadella, some salami, sliced provolone, deadly cherry peppers in green and red, artichokes, and pickled red and green peppers. Nothing original, but an appetizing platter. Pappa al pomodoro ($3/small; $5/large) is a thick bowl of spicy tomato soup thickened with bread, so you can almost eat it with a fork. Fried calamari ($8) is a large plate of impeccable squid, nicely salted, with some spears of breaded and fried zucchini for interest. There’s sweet-tomato dipping sauce, but the fried items are fresh and tasty enough without it.

With appetizers like these, you may not need dinner, especially if you have opened the breadbasket and removed some of the addictive spiced focaccia inside, to which you can apply some fairly neutral herbed olive oil or some very tasty mixed olives.

But then you would miss the pastas, which are not to be missed. A newish specialty of chicken à l’orange ($14) vaguely suggests the Bomboa influence, but in fact the very nice fried chicken with orange sauce was completely overshadowed by its side dish of linguine with light, creamy pesto. There aren’t many Boston restaurants serving al dente linguine as a main dish, never mind as a side dish. A special "gnocchi festival" ($17) was pasta overkill, but what a way to die three times! These are the old-fashioned, rather heavy gnocchi, and the sauces are a salty-creamy Gorgonzola, a lively rose-colored tomato (again I suspect a little cream), and the creamy pesto.

This kitchen is also comfortable with risotto, judging from our risotto with porcini ($14). The rice was somewhat al dente — authentic, if not my favorite style — and fully flavored with cream and woodsy wild mushrooms.

Veal saltimbocca ($19) really does seem to jump into one’s mouth. The veal is so good; the prosciutto is so fabulous; the cheese just holds each bite together. Or you could continue the bico theme with one of the pizzas. We tried vegetarian ($12), which has a lot of cubed eggplant and zucchini and some bell pepper on a crisp, thin crust, with just enough tomato sauce and cheese to make it pizza. The main feature of this pizza, though, is size. At eight slices and 14 inches, it’s the kind of thing you would order to occupy a table full of children so you could pay attention to the gnocchi.

The wine list is down to two whites and five reds, with four of the bottles also sold by the glass. The 2001 Merlot Scarlatta ($7/glass; $35/bottle) was a little soft for the food, but entirely drinkable. Coffee and espresso are nicely done, and the desserts are flown in from Milan. This works well for the tiramisu ($6) and the profiteroles ($5) — cream puffs, basically — as both are re-dressed locally with chocolate sauce. It also wins big with the coffee semifreddo ($6), a fashionably vertical cylinder of almost-frozen mousse. And it really scores with the gelati ($3/two scoops; $5/three scoops), if they are all as good as the amarena, black cherries in a rich vanilla base.

Service at Il Bico is quite good, and the fine food fills any spaces when it isn’t. Our server forgot one of our desserts, but got everything else in a random order onto the table, and provided us with plenty of spare plates and flatware for tasting around. The space, while subterranean and on the shady side of the street, quickly takes on a feeling of sunny Italy thanks to light-tile floors, stucco walls, and some large modern paintings. The music is all over the Italian map, from throbbing tenors to jazz fusion. Although the location really isn’t anywhere, people — young couples, family groups, apparent tourists — find Il Bico. It’s actually the only part of Kenmore Square where you can park on non–Red Sox nights. There are metered spaces in front of the restaurant, and a hidden alley if you turn right just after it, without going up the ramp to Park Drive.

Robert Nadeau can be reached at RobtNadeau@aol.com.