In the heart of Gorham, in an historic church, it’s Dante’s Inferno that’s bringing in new worshippers.

The Tree House Cafa is serving up that menu item, along with more than 30 other sandwich offerings, in the former School Street United Methodist Church. Since opening March 18, the owners say, more and more people are discovering their eatery, located in what was once a parish hall.

“It’s going good. It’s getting better every day,” said Michel Salvaggio, one of the three brothers involved in the business. “Pretty much everyone in town has eaten here. We’ve seen new faces every day.”

Salvaggio, 32, is joined by brothers Angelo, 28, and Marco, 24. Another brother, Anthony, 25, lives in Gorham and the trio is hoping he’ll join the family enterprise.

“We’re going to make him an offer he can’t refuse,” Salvaggio said.

The cafa is modeled after an award-winning cafa by the same name that he owned near the University of Denver campus in Denver, Colo.

“We got best sandwiches in Denver five years in a row,” Salvaggio said.

Menu items range from sandwiches made with various Italian cold cuts and cheeses to a variety of turkey, vegetarian and hot sandwiches and other homemade foods, many made from family recipes. It also sells organic coffee along with beer and wine.

The brothers like their location in the heart of Gorham Village and its proximity to the campus of the University of Southern Maine.

“The town is great, a beautiful town,” Salvaggio said.

The cafa is a family business and the trio hasn’t hired any outside labor yet. The cafa opens at 11 a.m. daily and closes at midnight Sundays through Thursdays. It stays open until 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

Each brother is working about 18 hours a day, adding up to 120 hours a week for each. But a schedule allows one to go home early every day.

But Marco Salvaggio had never counted the hours.

“It’s scary,” he said, hearing the total.

“I don’t know if my fianca likes my hours,” said Angelo Salvaggio, who is getting married the end of the May.

Hard work doesn’t faze the brothers. They grew up in a family with a strong work ethic, as their dad owned a restaurant for years in Westbrook.

“We’ve all grown up in the business,” Marco Salvaggio said.

Besides the cafa, they plan to open a sports bar, “The Sports Pill,” in early summer and then a banquet hall in the church sanctuary, which will require little work for conversion. The wooden altar railing will become part of the dacor in the sports bar. The church kept the wooden pews.

Options are still being considered for leasing retail space in the basement.

Gorham Village has a reputation for tight parking, but it hasn’t been a problem for the cafe. It has a parking lot behind 7-Eleven and accessed off Cross Street. But, parking spots are often available in front of the cafe on School Street.

“There’s usually a spot or two for people to slide in and out,” Angelo Salvaggio said.

The cafa benefits from being located across School Street from a USM fraternity house.

“The frat has come over 20 at a time,” Angelo Salvaggio said.

After signing a contract to buy the church, the Salvaggio brothers asked the Gorham Planning Board for a permit to renovate in February 2005. Their project was approved the next month and they closed on the property in April 2007. The property had been on the market for about a decade.

The brothers did much of the rehabbing work for the cafa.

With warmer weather approaching, the cafa will feature a look popular in Europe. Plans are for tables outside under umbrellas in a paved area between the sidewalk and the building.

Recent economic reports haven’t discouraged the brothers.

“There was no changing our minds when news was bad on TV,” Michel Salvaggio said.

And brother Angelo agreed.

“You can’t let it get you down,” he said.