The restaurants residing in Little Italy – all mostly family-owned and delicious – take up space in just a few blocks' radius in Baltimore City. None, however, are so sweet as Vaccaro’s – Little Italy’s only bakery. Vaccaro’s Italian Pastry Shop was opened by Gioacchino Vaccaro in 1956 as a way to share the recipes he had brought with him from Palermo, Italy. Today, Nick Vaccaro continues his family’s tradition. The bakery has lived in the space on Albemarle Street for decades, and over the years, a few additional sites have opened throughout the greater Baltimore area.

A few years ago, the flagship location went through a makeover, opening up the space quite a bit and lightening it up thanks to a few nifty light features. The small bakery houses only 10-12 tables, and those, as well as the outside tables, are ordinarily full on warm summer evenings (and cold winter evenings – and all the evenings in between) with hungry Baltimoreans who can’t resist the sweet treats Vaccaro’s has to offer.