Insider Tips

Lake View Cemetery borders Little Italy. Some stone masons who once called the neighborhood home rest there alongside John D. Rockefeller and Eliot Ness.

Kids will love the modernized playground along Mayfield Road. There are chessboards, too, if you want to exercise your brain.

Valet parking here isn't destination-specific. Drop off your car at any of the stations on Mayfield Road (Thursday-Saturday) or the one on Murray Hill Road (Friday & Saturday) for $5.

The private Montenerodomo Citizens Club is underneath Michelangelo's. If your descendants don't hail from the Italian city, an annual $15 social membership gets you into the club and allows you to buy tickets to social events such as Palm Sunday breakfast.

A stroll through the community garden behind Tony Brush Park is a nice end to your night. Just keep your hands off the veggies.

If you dine at Primo Vino, try a Menabrea beer. It was the first Cleveland restaurant to carry the import, made by Italy's oldest brewery.

Sidari Italian Food's pasta production facility on East 119th Street supplies many of the neighborhood's restaurants. Its pastas are made with machinery imported from Italy.