Exploring The Best of Little Italy

[caption id="attachment_2305" align="alignleft" width="336" caption="The Historic Little Italy"][/caption]

Little Italy is a great area in Cleveland, mainly known for their delicious, authentic Italian food and shops. I remember going to Little Italy all the time when I was younger, mainly for the pastries and Prestis, but now that I am older, I realize that there are many more places to explore. Cleveland Magazine explores the many attractions in Little Italy with their article so cleverly titled "Eat, Pray, Love."

Presti's pastries and Corbo's cannolis get all the accolades, but Holy Rosary has been the heart of Little Italy since the cornerstone of the original church was laid on Aug. 14, 1892.

It was built out of necessity. The immigrants who lived near the intersection of Murray Hill and Mayfield roads wanted a place of worship closer to their homes and raised $2,000 in the span of a month to help finance it.

What they started blossomed into a thriving ethnic enclave as the 20th century took hold. A new church was dedicated in 1909, with restaurants and bakeries popping up later. And then, somewhere along the way, it all became wonderfully frozen in time, even as modern shops, galleries and restaurants took their places alongside time-tested ones.

To this day, holiday masses are partially conducted in Italian, and it's not unusual to see an elderly man fall to his knees in pure reverence as a holy day procession led by the church's pastor winds through the neighborhood. This is the living, breathing old country dropped in the middle of the new one.

Linger at the Alta House's annual bocce tournament, and odds are good an old man with an Italian accent will flirt with you, or your daughter, or your mother. Stroll down to Guarino's, and you'll find an antique parlor and dining room wrapped in a warm, early-20th-century embrace, and an equally comforting order of spaghetti and meatballs.

Read more at Cleveland Magazine