While Little Italy in Manhattan is better known from movies and TV shows, the Bronx has its own, more extensive version of an Italian-American neighborhood.

NYC native and long-time Greeter Ellen Gasnick frequently travels from her home in Queens to shop along Arthur Avenue, the central street of Little Italy in the Bronx. She also takes visitors there, and recently led a group of Big Apple Greeter volunteers on a shopping and dining expedition to the area.

From Grand Central Terminal, a 20-minute ride on Metro-North Railroad to the Fordham Station takes you to East 190th Street in the Bronx. Walking a few blocks south on Park Avenue, the Big Apple Greeter group stopped on 187th Street to visit the stunning Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, built in the early decades of the 20th Century to serve the large immigrant Italian community living in the area. The Belmont Branch of the New York Public Library on 186th Street houses the Enrico Fermi Cultural Center, which provides books and magazines in Italian, along with a collection of materials related to Italian-American history. From the outside, St. Barnabas Hospital at 182nd Street and 3rd Avenue looks like any other medical institution, but it was built on the site of 17th and 18th Century tobacco farms—not something typically associated with the Bronx.

Scenes from Arthur Avenue

While the area around Arthur Avenue offers plenty for history buffs, there’s no question that most people go for the food.

The Arthur Avenue Retail Market offers nine restaurants and a variety of shops featuring everything from pasta to pork, bread to fish, pastry to coffee. Similar shops and places to eat can be found in the surrounding streets. Ellen shared some of her favorites with the other Greeters, just as she does with visitors who may well return to their hotel rooms with enough food to see them through their stay in New York.

· Tino’s Delicatessen, 2410 Arthur Avenue

· Borgatti’s Ravioli & Egg Noodles, 632 East 187th Street

· Delillo Pastry Shop, 610 East 187th Street

· Calabria Pork Store, 2338 Arthur Avenue

· Cerini Coffee and Gifts, 2334 Arthur Avenue

· Madonia Brothers Bakery, 2348 Arthur Avenue

· Teitel Brothers Grocery, 2372 Arthur Avenue