There's a little bit of Italy in Portland

Inside, you'll be delighted with this throwback spot. Past the deli counter are rows and rows of specialty items, all imported from Italy - dried Rustichella d'Abruzzo pasta, Frantoia extra-virgin olive oil, white anchovies, sardines, olives, peppers, and the other essentials of the Italian table.

Owners Rick Micucci, 47; his wife, Anna, 38; and daughter Vanessa, 21, run the retail arm of a business established by Rick's parents, Leo and Iris, almost 60 years ago. Micucci's and St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church are all that remain of Portland's answer to Little Italy. The current site, purchased in 1965, is not the original. "It all started in the back of Rick's father's pickup truck," says Anna Micucci. Twenty years ago came the only other change: Rick's brothers, Bruce, Leo, and John, moved the store's wholesale operations to Riverside Street. They sell to many area restaurants.

Today, the retail store is linked with a new community. India Street is also home to Two Fat Cats Bakery (affiliated with the popular Fore Street restaurant) and Coffee by Design. Around the corner on Middle Street are Duck Fat - a small restaurant known for its incredibly rich Belgian-style fries - and Rabelais, an independent bookshop that is the local go-to place for volumes on cooking and home.

Last year, Micucci's opened a bakery in the back of the shop. Walk through the extensive selection of wines - perhaps snagging an inexpensive Chianti along the way - up a few steps, and around a corner to find a tiny brick-lined spot serving piping-hot slabs of Sicilian pizza. Baker Stephen Lanzalotta and his daughter, Shaia, turn out the pies beginning around 10 a.m. every day. Demand is so high that the senior Lanzalotta cannot take advance orders. When the bakers are between batches, they put out a folded paper plate noting the approximate time of the next pizzas. If you can't wait, try something from the freezer. "Frozolis," or frozen cannolis, and pizzelle ice cream sandwiches filled with cannoli cream are both made here.