Making your way up the driveway to the garage door of Tony Liotta’s house on North Quincy on a chilly September afternoon, you can already smell his latest labor of love. Like any good Italian, within minutes of stepping into his kitchen, whether an old friend or a stranger, he’s served you homemade olive oil and bread, and his dish of the day, hot and fresh spring rolls.

An immigrant from Camporeale, Sicily, who arrived in 1980, Liotta’s passion lies in his gardens, which are lush with the fruits and vegetables of his homeland. On his annual visits to Italy for the grape harvest, he brings seeds back to grow in the backyards along his street, and insists he will never buy a vegetable from the supermarket that he can grow.