Signs made out of red, green and white tinsel effusively welcome visitors here, a signal perhaps that today's Little Italy is light years away from the solid ethnic enclave of old. The neighborhood is a lot smaller and more commercial than it once was, and the area settled by New York's huge nineteenth-century influx of Italian immigrants is encroached upon a little more each year by Chinatown. In fact, if you walk north from Canal Street along Mulberry or Mott streets to get here, the transition from the cultural heart of Chinatown to Little Italy's Big Tomato tourist schmaltz can be a little difficult to stomach. Few Italians still live here and some of the restaurants cater to tourists with valet parking and by piping the music of NY's favorite Italian son, Frank Sinatra, onto the street.

But that's not to advise missing out on Little Italy altogether. Some original bakeries and salumerias (Italian specialty food stores) do survive, and here, amid the imported cheeses, sausages and salamis hanging from the ceiling, you can buy sandwiches made with slabs of mozzarella or eat slices of homemade focaccia.

The best way to access Little Italy is by taking the #N, #R, #J, #M, #Z or #6 train to Canal Street and walking up Mulberry Street