One of the longtime members of La Garibaldina Society is Jimmy, from Piedmont. He’s been around since before the the society moved to its current location, in 1967. You can ask him how things used to be done, and if you don’t, he’ll probably tell you anyway. Then there’s Ignazio, an 85-year-old pastry chef who started baking at age 14 in Palermo.

At La Garibaldina, he enjoys teaching others how to make traditional Sicilian treats like cuccidati, the fig-filled cookies he’s perfected over decades. And if you step out onto the bocce court, where members gather every Tuesday and Thursday to play this century-old game, you’ll likely run into Aldo. He’s been with the Society longer than anyone, and today he serves as both sergeant-at-arms and Dinner Dance sauce master.