ABSTRACT
On a sunlit Friday afternoon in late September, Michele Topor guides a dozen eager visitors through the bustling streets of Boston’s Little Italy. Topor’s inventive North End Market Tour is one of several excursions available in the metropolis that promoters have come to dub America’s Walking City – Boston, Massachusetts. Famous for its restaurants and cafés, pastry shops and salumerias, the North End delights all the senses. With her insider’s knowledge of this historic Italian American community, Topor feeds the intellect as she imparts her culinary expertise and gastronomic advice on selecting aperitifs, digestifs and grappas. The excursionists follow Topor, single file, along the North End’s narrow sidewalks. They pass a sunny corner where a group of older, carefully dressed men, all with hats on and some with canes, have set up their folding chairs. The men are talking, playing cards and revelling in each other’s company. In the course of a day, the tour guide comments, they will move from one vantage spot in the neighbourhood to the next, following the warmth of the autumn sun.
