I recently had a sit-down with my good friend Ray Nasuti. Mention a person, place or thing in Napa back in the old days and Ray can tell you all about it. He is a great resource for my biweekly offerings.

Ray’s credentials as a resource for ramblings about old Napa are impeccable. He was born in Napa in 1920 and, except for a six-year family stay in San Francisco when he was a child, he has lived here for the balance of the past nine decades. He attended Lincoln, Intermediate and Napa Union High schools (graduating from high school in 1937) and had his own business in Napa for many years.

I asked for the get-together with Ray because I wanted to learn about Napa’s Little Italy. For you late-comers, during the first half of the 20th century, Napa’s population included a large percentage of citizens of Italian heritage, many of them recent immigrants.

Ray advised that Little Italy was also known as East Napa and he then described an area that extended eastward from Soscol Avenue and the railroad tracks to just beyond Silverado Trail, and generally between First and Third Streets.

Using businesses of the old days, I would describe Little Italy as that area within a rectangle with the following corners: The Depot Café at Third and Soscol; the Jumbo Onel bar at Third and Silverado Trail; Trabucchi’s grocery at Berna and Silverado Trail; and the Roma Hotel at First and the railroad tracks.

Ray grew up on Juarez Street, a street of four short blocks between First and Third streets. He recently told me that even today he can name every family that lived on Juarez Street during his youth. His friends, playmates and schoolmates included young people from the Simoni, Cassani, Zaro, Tarablini, Passini and Turconi families, among others.

In 1943, during World War II, my family moved to a residence on East Avenue in Alta Heights. I was attending Napa Junior High School at the time and walked through Little Italy almost on a daily basis. I remember Trabucchi’s grocery store, which later became the Alta Heights Market owned by Peter and Yip Fong.

At First and Juarez I walked by Pollastrini’s market — later to become the Silver Leaf bar.

Further down First Street (toward town), I walked by the Rose Marie restaurant. It was to become Ruffino’s, a Napa standby for decades.

Beyond the Rose Marie, on the same side of the street and near the railroad tracks, was the Lombardo Hotel. Across First Street from the Lombardo was the Roma Hotel. Both the Lombardo and the Roma had bocce ball courts.

The Roma’s bocce court was right next to the street and behind a tall wooden fence. When I walked by and heard people talking behind the fence, I knew there was a game going on. When I had time, I would pull myself up on the fence and watch a game that was as foreign to me as the language of the players, but it was fun to watch. The players and the spectators were as animated as if they were watching today’s World Cup.

I mentioned to Ray that I knew that Joe Vallerga did not build his first market on First Street until after Joe returned from Word War II, and Ray agreed. He added, however, that Joe’s family had a large vegetable garden on the property beside the river and, in the absence of refrigeration, put the vegetables in a large water trough to keep them cool.

Ray went on to mention that when Joe Vallerga was ready to go into the grocery business, he bought a building that was owned by Walter Whelan, the distributor of San Francisco newspapers in the Napa area. When the building became available, Joe bought it, moved it to the site of the current JV Wine and Spirits store on First Street and stocked it with groceries. The rest is history.

Thanks, Ray. I’ll talk to you again soon.

Napa As It Was appears every other Monday, alternating with Betty Rhodes’ Senior Corner.