North End Has Alleged Cannoli Robbery, Well-Loved Residents and Businesses Abound

The students are settling in and vacation time is winding down for most people.

So one would have expected this to be a fairly quiet week in the North End.

But in this appealing and popular part of the city, it's unlikely that something unusual -- even if only a bit quirky -- will pass the neighborhood by.

The biggest news came early on Friday morning when an Irish tourist allegedly used a 12-inch knife on Salem Street and demanded they give him a cannoli. 

Manager Ralph Bova left the business a little after midnight but got a call from police at 4:30 a.m. with the news that an Irish tourist, later identified as Robert McTernan, had robbed the bakery.

It was astonishing, Bova said, because nothing like this has ever happened to the family bakery since it was opened by his grandfather 85 years ago.

He's just thankful no one was hurt and said he cares much more about his employees -- many of them family members -- than a cannoli. 

On that topic: Cafe Paradiso of Hanover Street -- named Best Cannoli this past summer -- was the first business North End Patch selected to profile for

Katia DeStefano and her sister, Tania, are managing the family-owned restaurant. The third generation of a large Italian family, the sisters hope the North End maintains its Italian traditions that their families brought over from their former country to make their new one feel more like home.

And the topic of home came up with a life-long resient of the North End who is a landlord and civic activist in the North End.

She, too, is the third generation of an Italian family. Both sets of her grandparents settled in the neighborhood and Janet can understand why they remained here their entire lives.

She intends to as well.

Why would she go anywhere else, Janet asked. The North End is home.