Feb 24, 2017

Photos and text by Algerina Perna

The 80-year-old tradition of ravioli-making is going strong at St. Leo’s Church in Little Italy. A welcoming atmosphere and a desire to pass on the practice to children and grandchildren, or lean something new, keeps volunteers coming from all around the region.

: Tony Walmsley, left, and Armand Esposito, right, feed ravioli dough through the rolling machine as volunteers wait to carry off the long dough strips to their work stations. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Volunteer Enjeen Woolford, 51, offers a strip of pasta dough to any volunteers ready for this step in the process. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Elisa Wolf counts the ravioli before bringing carrying it to another station; there’s 60 to a tray. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Crystal Ammori, a member of St. Leo’s Church, folds the dough on top of the ricotta cheese filling. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Laura Barrett-Nutting helps her son Joshua Barrett put filling onto the ravioli dough. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Sharon Esposito Bielski, 74, places ricotta cheese on a strip of dough. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Ashley Theimer, 13, left, wearing her friend Ava’s apron, and Ava Wolf, 12, right, carry a finished tray to another station. They came with Ava’s mom, Elisa Wolf in the background left. Ava’s grandmother, Maria Poppe, 74, who was raised in Little Italy and also volunteered, wants her grandchildren to learn the Italian traditions. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Crystal Ammori, a member of St. Leo’s Church, folds the dough on top of the ricotta cheese filling. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: From left: Ashley Theimer, 13; Ava Wolf, 12, and Molly Pethick, 13, place a strip of ravioli dough onto the table. They all volunteered with Ava’s mother, grandmother and great aunt. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: A volunteer gathers the utensils used in making ravioli. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Vincent Rosso, 86, from Dundalk, spreads corn flour on the parchment paper to keep the raviolis from sticking. He has been volunteering in this job for 20 years. In the background, people stand in line waiting to get more dough from the rolling machine. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Vincent Rosso, 86, from Dundalk, spreads corn flour on the parchment paper to keep the raviolis from sticking. He has been volunteering in this job for 20 years. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Bob Zelkoski, 78, born and raised in Little Italy, carries a bowl with ricotta filling from the kitchen to the main work room. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Shatomi Kerbawy, who lives in Detroit and is visiting his friend, cuts the ravioli into squares. twice a year is a major fundraiser for the church. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Teresa Corapi, 80, cuts ravioli squares. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Crystal Ammori, a member of St. Leo’s Church, makes ridges around the ravioli using a bent fork. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Ava Wolf, 12, left, and Ashley Theimer, 13, wearing her friend Ava’s apron, cut a long strip of raviolis into squares. Ava’s grandmother Maria Poppe, 74, who also volunteered, was raised in Little Italy. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Maria Poppe, 74, left , and her sister Elizabeth Factor, 66, who were raised in Little Italy, work in tandem. Poppe’s daughter and granddaughter also volunteered, making it a family event. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Teresa Corapi, 80 watches as Vincenzo Mirarchi, 79, counts the raviolis on the tray before he carries it to the next station. There should be sixty. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: John Kidwell who was raised in Little Italy and now lives in Westminster loads ravioli trays into the tray rack. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Ravioli is stacked in trays in the freezer. A few days after freezing, the ravioli will be transferred to small plastic bags until the day of the dinner when they will be cooked. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

From pre-teens to octogenarians, 80 volunteers came together on each of two recent Saturdays to make a total of 12,166 raviolis using 350 pounds of flour, 620 pounds of cheese and 1,090 eggs. St. Leo’s Church holds two ravioli dinners a year, which are major fundraisers for the church, says Sue Corasiniti, the co-chair with Rob Daniels. The next dinner on March 5 will serve 1,000 people in the school hall and another 1,000 take-out dinners in the church hall. The meal includes dessert donated by Vaccaro’s Italian Pastry Shop and Sabatino’s Italian restaurant.

Daniels, who was hired as the maintenance facilities manager three years ago and has helped with six dinners, says: “You just feel like you’re part of the family. Everyone accepts you. I feel like I have 200 grandmoms and grandpops and moms and dads. It’s not just me. It’s anyone who comes in is all part of the family.”

Corasiniti who has been affiliated with the parish for 20 years, says, “We sort of go on the 3 f’s: family, food and fun.”

Family, food and fun: Ravioli-making at St. Leo’s

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