I am so accustomed to hearing people trash Baltimore that it’s refreshing to hear someone defend it. That’s especially true when that someone has been here as long as Vince Fava and his family. His ancestors immigrated to Baltimore more than a century ago from Cefalu, Sicily and, like so many of their peers, set up shop downtown.

More than 100 years later, their store, Trinacria, remains on the 400 block of Paca Street, and it’s a place to buy everything from frozen baked ziti to dry pasta and baked goods, all made according to generations-old family recipes. This family-owned Italian deli has been operating since 1908.