Woman-owned boutique studio combines Reformer Pilates, infrared-heated Mat classes, café culture, and community under one roof
WILMINGTON, Del. — Bella Forma Pilates, a new woman-owned boutique Pilates studio and café in North Wilmington, will celebrate its Grand Opening Weekend October 2–4, introducing a Pilates experience designed to extend well beyond the workout.
Located along the Route 202 corridor, Bella Forma brings together two dedicated Pilates studios, a café and curated retail in a welcoming space created for people to move, connect, and stay awhile.
“Bella Forma started with a pretty simple idea: I wanted to create the kind of place I wanted to go,” said founder and owner Amy Silvestri. “A beautiful studio with exceptional instruction, great equipment, and classes that challenge you, but also a place where you know people, form friendships, grab a latte after class, and actually want to hang around.”
The studio offers both Reformer and Mat-based Pilates, with programming ranging from foundational through advanced levels.
Its Reformer studio features ten best-in-class Balanced Body Studio Reformers equipped with the Konnector, an innovative pulley system that connects all four limbs and creates a more integrated, full-body Pilates experience. Bella Forma is currently the only studio in upstate Delaware and surrounding area offering the Konnector across its Reformer studio.
A second studio offers infrared-heated Mat Pilates (aka Hot Pilates) along with Springboard training and non-heated variations, giving clients access to multiple Pilates modalities within one membership and one location.
Bella Forma’s signature programming blends classical Pilates principles with contemporary movement, offering foundational Precision and Tone classes, flowing Reformer formats, advanced Power, Strength and Sculpt classes, Konnector-focused programming, heated and non-heated formats, and Springboard-based training. The schedule also includes classes rooted more deeply in the classical Pilates method, introducing clients to Joseph Pilates’ original 34 mat exercises and the foundational work that continues to shape Pilates today.
At the center of the concept is the belief that Pilates should feel both effective and approachable.
“We take the work seriously without taking ourselves too seriously,” Silvestri said. “Great instruction matters. Technique matters. But so does creating a place where someone taking Pilates classes for the first time feels just as welcome as someone who has practiced for years.”
The Bella Forma experience continues after class through its in-house café, serving espresso drinks, matcha, chai, seasonal specialties and other café favorites. Clients can stay for a drink, meet friends, or take part in the studio’s growing calendar of social and wellness events.
That mix of movement and connection has become an important part of the Bella Forma model. Recent and upcoming programming includes Pilates paired with tea tastings, wine events, dance instruction, book clubs, sound baths, walking club, and neighborhood business collaborations.
Kicking off the Grand Opening weekend with a ribbon cutting at 1:30pm on Friday, Oct 2, the weekend will showcase that philosophy with a full schedule of Pilates classes, specialty programming, café offerings, and community events, including Pilates + Salsa, Pilates + Bollywood, Plank + Pour wine tasting, Pilates + Tea Time, themed Reformer and Mat classes, and a Pups + Pilates fundraiser benefiting the Delaware Breast Cancer Coalition.
For Silvestri, a former global banking executive, breast cancer survivor, and University of Delaware alumna, Bella Forma also represents a personal career reinvention.
After years in senior leadership roles in global finance and Delaware politics, she pivoted to Delaware entrepreneurship with a concept centered on movement, hospitality, and connection.
“Pilates can change how you feel in your body,” Silvestri said. “But Bella Forma is about more than the workout. We want people to walk out feeling better physically, mentally, and socially than when they walked in.”
Bella Forma offers individual classes, class packages, introductory experiences, private group events, and monthly memberships ranging from four classes per month to unlimited Pilates.
Bella Forma is also investing in the next generation of its local community by employing high-school students from Archmere Academy, Padua Academy, Brandywine High School, and Concord High School as Client Services Specialists and baristas. In addition to supporting the day-to-day client and café experience, these roles give students hands-on experience in customer service, hospitality, teamwork, communication, accountability, and small-business operations, helping them build practical skills they can carry into college and future careers.
In the coming quarter, Bella Forma will expand beyond the studio with on-demand, live-streamed, scheduled, and recorded workouts available through the Bella Forma Pilates app. The studio will also introduce more specialized programming, including Pilates designed to support youth athletic development and sport-specific/functional training, along with dedicated classes for teens, men, and older adults. The expanded programming reflects Bella Forma’s goal of making Pilates more accessible and relevant across ages, interests, and stages of life.
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ABOUT BELLA FORMA PILATES
Bella Forma Pilates is a woman-owned boutique Pilates studio and café in North Wilmington, Delaware. The studio offers Reformer Pilates featuring Balanced Body equipment and the Konnector, infrared-heated Mat Pilates, Springboard training, café service, curated retail and community-focused events. Bella Forma combines high-quality Pilates instruction with a welcoming environment designed to give clients a place to move, connect, and stay awhile.
Bella Forma was built around the belief that Pilates should feel accessible and welcoming to a wide range of people. The studio serves clients across ages, backgrounds, races, genders, body types, fitness levels, and life stages, with programming designed to meet people where they are while helping them build strength, confidence, mobility, and connection.
ABOUT BELLA FORMA PILATES GROWTH
In the coming quarter, Bella Forma will expand beyond the studio with on-demand, live-streamed, scheduled, and recorded workouts available through the Bella Forma Pilates app. The studio will also introduce more specialized programming, including Pilates designed to support youth athletic development and sport-specific and functional training, along with dedicated classes for teens, men, and older adults.
Bella Forma also plans to broaden its in-studio offerings by adding the full range of traditional Pilates apparatus and corresponding classes, giving clients the opportunity to experience more of the complete Pilates method beyond Reformer, Mat, Springboard, and Konnector programming.
The studio will continue building partnerships with local high-school athletic teams and university organizations, including sororities. Founder Amy Silvestri, an Alpha Phi alumna of the University of Delaware, sees these partnerships as another way to introduce Pilates to younger clients and demonstrate how the method can support strength, mobility, coordination, injury prevention, and lifelong movement.
Looking further ahead, Bella Forma is developing destination Pilates experiences, including a Pilates trip to Italy planned for October 2027.
Together, these initiatives reflect Bella Forma’s broader goal of making Pilates more accessible and relevant across ages, interests, athletic pursuits, and stages of life, while giving clients more ways to experience the depth of the Pilates method both inside and outside the studio.
ABOUT PILATES
Pilates is a low-impact system of exercise developed in the early 20th century by Joseph Pilates. Originally called “Contrology,” the method emphasizes controlled movement, breath, concentration, precision, alignment, and core strength to improve overall strength, flexibility, posture, balance, and body awareness.
Joseph Pilates began developing the method during World War I and later refined it after immigrating to the United States. In 1926, he and his wife, Clara, opened their first studio in New York City, where the method gained a following among dancers, performers, and athletes before expanding into the widely practiced fitness discipline known today as Pilates.
ABOUT PILATES POPULARITY AND GROWTH
Pilates has emerged as one of the fastest-growing fitness modalities, fueled by rising demand for low-impact strength, mobility, core training, and mind-body movement.
The American College of Sports Medicine ranked Pilates-inclusive “Balance, Flow, and Core Strength” as the top worldwide fitness modality for 2026, reporting that participation increased 27% between 2022 and 2024. ACSM points to growing interest in core strength, mobility, balance, movement quality, longevity, and mind-body wellness as drivers of the trend, with particularly strong interest among adults under 25 and over 55.
In 2025, Pilates was the most-booked workout worldwide on ClassPass for the third consecutive year, with reservations increasing 66% year over year. Reformer Pilates bookings grew 71%, while Mat Pilates surged 114%. The American College of Sports Medicine also ranked Pilates-inclusive “Balance, Flow, and Core Strength” as its top worldwide fitness modality for 2026.
MEDIA CONTACT
Amy Silvestri
Founder + Owner
Bella Forma Pilates
3003 Concord Pike
Wilmington, Delaware
amy.silvestri@bellaformahouse.com
302-244-7877
insta: bella.forma.pilates
