I started going to Tre Mari recently - my nonno had recently passed away (my nonna back in 2003), and I wanted to connect to my family heritage more (if only I had thought about doing this when they were still around!). When they came to Canada in the early 1950s, they lived in Corso Italia, along with all of the other recent Italian immigrants of the time (they later followed the suburban dream to Scarborough).
So I decided to explore the neighbourhood. Alongside the St. Nicola Di Bari church (Bari is where my family is originally from!), I was able to find traces of my family at Tre Mari Bakery. While I can't say for sure that my grandparents ever shopped here (I get the feeling they didn't, my nonna liked to make her own bread), the spirit of Italian-Canadians runs deep in this place. From the ciabatta to the hot table to the cannoli (and all the other pastries!), this shop gives me the feeling of being among family once again.
I'm so glad that institutions like this exist in the city - not just for the history, but because the food is damn delicious to boot.