The Italian bakery has remained a mainstay among New York institutions since the arrival of Italian immigrants in the early 20th century. They brought with them the best of mostly southern Italian and Sicilian pastries, cakes, and cookies.

These delicacies all share a mixed past, some equally as French as they are Italian, and others showing Arabic-Sicilian influence. Many of the items continue to be made in the Italian tradition, while others morphed into something uniquely Italian-American.