Passing beneath Federal Hill’s iconic pine cone-bearing arch, a friend and I joined the Providence Tour Company group gathering in Garibaldi Park, ready to take a deep dive into the historic Italian neighborhood’s food-filled past.

Our guide, Patti Sammartino, explained that the gateway’s pine cone, La Pigna, symbolizes abundance and prosperity. It’s a fitting emblem, as acquiring abundance and prosperity – by almost any means necessary – was a theme of the Crime and Cuisine Tour.