Baltimore’s Proud Italian Heritage

Following a trip to the airport to drop off my sister recently, my mom, John, and I visited Baltimore to pick up some Italian provisions at some of the classic markets and went over to Little Italy to a new bakery to buy baked goods. On our drive into the city, we passed the location of my grandfather’s first barber shop on Eastern Avenue, where my mom lived over the shop immediately after she was born.

My grandfather Paul (pictured at right) learned his trade when he was a very young man only a few years after his arrival from Sicily by boat at the Port of Baltimore. Italians began to settle in the city during the late 1800s. The earliest Italian settlers in Baltimore were sailors from Genoa, the capital city of the Italian region of Liguria, who arrived during the 1840s and 1850s. Later immigrants came from Naples, Abruzzo, Cefalù, and Palermo, where my grandfather’s trip originated. Many people think of New York when they think of immigrants arriving in the U.S. What many do not know is that Baltimore was the second-leading port of entry at that time. The establishment of the nation's first commercial steam railway, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, in 1828 opened the way to the West. As the westernmost major port on the East Coast, Baltimore was a popular destination.

As a child, my mom would bring me to my grandfather’s second barber shop, which stood on North Charles Street for over 50 years. This was a great location in its time as it was within close walking distance of Baltimore’s Penn Station, where people would arrive and head straight over to my grandfather’s shop to get the “works” including a haircut, massage with pre-shave oil, hot towels, and a shave with a straight razor (my mom once got in big trouble apparently for using one of her dad’s straight razors to shave her legs as a teen!).

Being back in Baltimore, reminded me of the wonderful traditions we had as a family that still endure today. On trips to visit my grandfather as a young girl and step grandmother (my grandmother passed away when I was only 3) our family would enjoy games of bocce in the back yard. My grandfather had an old school wooden set and even into his late 70s could still beat his grandchildren handily. I have tried to play this a few times using the cheaper plastic sets that we have purchased over the years with my kids, but it just is not the same. Nonetheless, I hope there will come a time when my kids share this fun game with their families.

Another ongoing tradition is to visit some of the markets to purchase Italian goods for special recipes. Living in the Annapolis area growing up, it was not easy to find shops or stores that catered to the children of immigrants like my parents. Thus, we made the drive into Baltimore to places like Trinacria (this means the triangle of Sicily in Italian) and Di Pasquales. Both stores have been around for over 100 years. Di Pasquales has an interesting history, as the floor over the original store once housed an office where Al Capone of all people attempted to go legit before turning to a life of crime and served as an accountant.

In these stores, one can find an amazing array of goods including wine, pasta, tomatoes and meats cured and shipped from Italy and even fresh produce with items that are hard to find like cardoons, a kind of celery that is often braised and served as a side dish. The true feast for the eyes, however, are the prepared goods served to lucky customers including artichokes, fresh sandwiches, pizza, and arancini, made with both meat and vegetables. It is comforting even now in the doldrums of winter to see the long-time owners of these historical shops, Joseph, and Vince, working behind the counters. One staff member, Mike, at Trinacria has virtually seen me grow up and is a quasi-member of the family. I enjoy taking my kids to these places and sharing these traditions with them.

But back to Baltimore. I have been dismayed in recent years reading articles that are prematurely sounding the death knell for this once sparkling gem of a city. Yes, it has had its challenges over the years. On this note, we can agree. The industrial machine that was such an important economic component to this proud area, ultimately dried up and left people without employment. Many people moved away and shows like “The Wire,” which certainly is entertaining and contains some truths about what has gone on over the years, depicted a city in crisis and trying to find itself. I have actually had friends tell me to “be careful” on trips into town that I would never have given a thought to previously. It saddens me that some avoid it without even going in and experiencing what the city has to offer, which is a great deal. I am proud of my family’s heritage in this city and will continue to be until the day I die.

Little Italy, the once proud neighborhood, where famous restaurants drew celebrities, is experiencing hardship according to Baltimore Magazine, as the customers who used to visit prior to the pandemic, have not been coming. This is the neighborhood that produced U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the daughter of former Baltimore Mayor Thomas D’Alesandro.

But there have been some bright spots. On our trip into the city, I visited a new bakery, Ovenbird and was pleased to see a long line. Not unlike many of the other bakeries I have visited, this bakery was drawing people from all over town and many of the customers were young. It is fair to say that I was the oldest person in line by a longshot. It gave me hope and talking to some of the people standing with me in the cold on icy streets, they were excited to be there. Many said they were hopeful that more people would return to Little Italy and visit the other businesses. I was pleased to see a flyer advertising an upcoming Lenten spaghetti dinner at nearby Catholic institution St. Leo’s. Little Italy survived the 1918 flu epidemic and it is my great hope that businesses like Ovenbird, Sabatino’s, Chipparelli’s, Vaccaro’s, and others will endure.

Other exciting developments include the move of Di Pasquales from where it has been located in Highlandtown for 106 years over to Brewers Hill to further expand. I cannot wait for the additional elbow room this ultimately will bring to one of my favorite places. And the continued prominence of Johns Hopkins, a premier medical institution, in the city will only continue to draw people to Baltimore in the years to come.

Sometimes I worry that we aren’t carrying on the great traditions that our grandparents gave to us, but that thought evaporated on a trip a few years ago with my cousins to Charleston. I hadn’t seen them in a few years and was delighted to overhear them talking about what they were going to make for dinner while on vacation. No pizza for this family. Instead, the talk was of a roast (in the summer no less), with special potatoes and wine. My younger cousins also are very proud of their heritage and are interested in learning more about their culture and the food. My children certainly enjoy the food and I hope someday will share the recipes we have shared with them with their own families.

I think my grandfather would be proud. One of my final conversations with him was when he was in a memory care facility and he couldn’t remember a great deal as he struggled with Alzheimer’s disease. But even then at 84, he recalled Sicily. He remembered Mount Etna and the town where he was born, Enna. He came to America with his parents to make a new life, yet the old one in the end was what he remembered. I think of my granddad every time I have a juicy apricot, “rest my eyes” in the middle of the day, and eat dandelions. He was a very calming presence. I had not spent a lot of time in Baltimore in the past year, as I associated it with my dad’s passing, but it was comforting to be there, and I will be making the journey more in the days to come. I hope others will too. It has too strong of a historical legacy to be counted out.