On the evening of March 24th, roughly two dozen New Yorkers gathered at The Istituto Italiano di Cultura on Park Ave to embark on a mini tour of selected landmarks of the Little Italy that was. The group was young enough to be curious and old enough to appreciate what’s been lost. The walk was, at its heart, an act of cultural retrieval.
At Di Palo’s Fine Foods—one of the last authentic outposts in a neighborhood that has otherwise drifted toward imitation—five generations of family history greet you at the counter. Great-grandfather Savino arrived from southern Italy in 1903; the family has been making mozzarella by hand and sourcing regional Italian cheeses ever since.
