After moving to Williamsburg, Brooklyn in January 2009, I went to my first Feast of the Giglio festival that summer. For 12 days in July, the neighborhood’s historically southern Italian community comes together to celebrate and pay homage to la Madonna Della Carmine. 

After my friend and I got our fill of sausage and peppers and zeppole, we wandered into the Our Lady of Mount Carmel church after seeing a sign for coffee. We ordered two espressos, and as I took a sip, I looked at the older Italian gentleman who served us and said, “Wait a minute, this is spiked!” He laughed and said, “Well that’s how we have our espresso here, with a little sambuca.”