3 Best Places to Shop in Schenectady, Albany and Central New York

Civitello's, a bakery and small café with booths and tables, has been selling cannoli, spumoni, and Italian cookies since 1911.

The New York Folklore Society sells one-of-a-kind items made by New York folk artists: carved birds and walking sticks, quilts, hand-knitted children's sweaters, American Indian jewelry, baskets, and Ukrainian pysanky (decorated eggs).

A line forms every afternoon at Perreca's Bakery, in business since 1914 and the cornerstone of the city's Little Italy project. It's a Schenectady tradition to wait for a loaf of Perreca's bread, still warm from the oven. Round or rectangular, large or small, the crusty bread is the city's best-known food item. Actor Jack Nicholson developed a craving for Perreca's when he was in Albany filming the 1987 movie Ironweed and has friends pick up a loaf when they're in the area.