Cleveland - Little Italy
In honor of October being Italian-American Heritage Month, today I would like to share with you a place that is very close to my heart, and that is Cleveland’s Little Italy neighborhood.
Outside my greatgrandfather’s building
Little Italy was first established by Italian immigrants to Northeast Ohio in the 1880s. My own family were living on Murray Hill Road by the early 1900s; my great-grandfather Giuseppe Magri having built their apartment building there in 1916.
For this reason, visiting Little Italy has always been special to me. It is one of the few places in the world that I can walk in my ancestors’ footsteps. When I walk into Holy Rosary Church, I can feel the love of my grandparents, who were married there in 1950. When I touch the stone brick of my great-grandfather’s building, I am making contact with my inheritance as the descendent of immigrants. Now that I have returned to live in Italy myself, I understand the challenges and obstacles my great-grandparents must have faced trying to establish themselves in a new country, having to learn everything they thought they knew over from scratch. And knowing that makes me that much prouder to be their granddaughter. Knowing that makes me much prouder to be an Italian-American.
You see Italian flags everywhere in Little Italy, alongside the American flags which represent the unique cultural heritage of Italian-Americans. Like other immigrant communities, our community shares a bond of common origins, of origin stories, of culture, food, religious heritage, and traditions. Through generations, we have fought to hang on to our cultural identity and traditions, with our hearts in two places: the old country, and the new. No Italian-American I know doesn’t talk about returning to Italy, at least to visit. Italy is across an ocean but it is never far from our minds.
Murals depicting the Italian-American experience
Our ancestors, whether that be our great-grandparents, our parents, or one of us ourselves, have brought with them and instilled in the streets and in our hearts memories and reminders of Italy. At night, the traditional Italian festival lights light up the main streets of Mayfield and Murray Hill Roads. Every August, the Church organizes one of Cleveland’s most popular festivals, known locally as “The Feast.” Celebrating the Catholic holy day of the Feast of the Assumption, there is the traditional procession of Mary around the streets of Little Italy, a procession of joy and solemnity that began on the streets of Italy and continued through the footsteps of the generations that have arrived here.
The street lights are reminiscent of Italian festival lights
Italian-American delights at The Feast
At The Feast, you will find a wide and delicious sampling of Italian-American cuisine; that of recipes passed down from tables in Campobasso, Mazara del Vallo, and other southern Italian and Sicilian towns and brought to the new country. These recipes remain true to the heart of the dish, though we now may call them by a different name. For example, at The Feast you can find “Sicilian pizza,” which is the name that has been given to sfincione, a traditional Sicilian street food still popular today of bread, crushed tomatoes, and onions. Many of the restaurants in Little Italy today serve this unique Italian-American cuisine, the kind of food we grew up eating in our grandmother’s homes, including lasgana, manacotti, spaghetti and the like.
My two favorite restaurants in Little Italy however, are closer to the contemporary Italian and Sicilian cuisine. These are Valerio’s and Etna Ristorante. The chef at Etna, for example, is from Sicily himself, and I find great comfort in having a meal there. It is a taste of home, my home in Palermo.
Spumoni gelato at Presti’s Bakery
If you are looking for sweets, both Corbo’s and Presti’s Bakeries are well-loved favorites. You will be spoiled for choice with gelato and traditional cookies from generations-old recipes. You might even want to try a piece of Cleveland cassata cake - a yellow cake made with custard and strawberries. This is very different to the cassata you find in Sicily, which instead features bright green pistachio marzipan and ricotta.
Just outside of Little Italy, there is the sprawling Lakeview Cemetery. For many, it is popular to visit due to the beautiful stained glass of Wade Chapel, and the presidential Garfield Monument. Many, like me, like to walk around to see the beautiful, monumental tombstones erected for Cleveland’s noteworthy families and to wander among the daffodils on Daffodil Hill in the spring. For me, I will visit anytime I am home to stop by and say hello to my grandparents who are buried there. I’m glad that for their final resting place, they were able to be close to home.
Daffodil Hill
Today, the Little Italy Historical District remains one of Cleveland’s top attractions. There are a number of shops and even more restaurants where you can have a wonderful meal. For Cleveland’s Italian-Americans, Little Italy is always the place that reminds us of home.
Note: The header image shows Holy Rosary Church on Mayfield Road.
