BOSTON'S LITTLE ITALY FLAVORS HISTORIC FREEDOM TRAIL.

Byline: Gary A. Warner Orange County Register

``When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore...``

Dean Martin's silky voice pours across the cobblestones from a small Italian cafe just off Paul Revere Plaza in Boston's North End.

A troop of drooping tourists trudge up the Freedom Trail toward the Old North Church (``one if by land, two if by sea''), while the cafe owner drops an empty straw-basketed Chianti bottle into the recycling bin.

It's early morning in the North End, a place trapped in not one, but two time warps.

The Freedom Trail leads visitors past the meticulously restored homes, shops, graveyards and battle sites of the Revolutionary War. Past the early 19th-century shops and warehouses. Streets where Adams, Revere, Dickens and Melville walked.

But over and around this 1775 world is an Italian-American neighborhood, circa 1950. An immigrant community that forgot to move to the suburbs and die off, a place still awash in boccie-ball-playing old guys and shops stacked high with wine, olive oil and 25 kinds of cheese.

The area can be seen in an easy walking tour that can cover a nice afternoon of down-with-King-George Americana and ``eat, eat, eat!'' Italian family cuisine. Here's my Freedom and Foccacia Trail walking tour of the North End:

From the Haymarket subway stop, make your way under the Central Artery (I-93) that cuts the North End off from the rest of Boston. We start at the corner of Cross and Hanover streets in the heart of the North End. You're looking up the main street of early Boston, where Macy's and Jordan Marsh had their first department stores. Since the 1920s, this has been the city's Italian District. Hanover Street today is a gantlet of great scents (chocolate, garlic, coffee, pasta) on your way to the historical sites.

You'll pass A & J Imports (230 Hanover St.), the best spot in town to buy a wine press or pasta maker. Stroll by Modern Pastry (257 Hanover St.) and press your nose to the window to check out the killer vanilla-drenched sfogliatelle pastry. Do your best to avoid the caloric cacophony until you reach Caffe Vittoria (296 Hanover St.) a marble-and-mirrors extravaganza right out of Venice. Enjoy a cappuccino or latte and a big slice of cake while looking at the old photographs of the North End. Just up the street is the tiny Daily Catch (323 Hanover St.), known locally as ``Calamari Cafe,'' where you can try the local specialty: squid in its own ink, over linguine.

Well-caffeinated, turn right on Prince Street and walk to North Square, the epicenter of historical Boston. Walt Whitman and Charles Dickens worshiped at the former seaman's chapel, now the Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Paul Revere lived in the two-story wooden house across the way, the last 17th-century structure standing in the city.

Take a break from the narrow warren of streets by continuing west to Lewis Wharf, once the dock from which the famed clipper ships departed on their races around Cape Horn to California. Edgar Allan Poe's creepy ``Fall of the House of Usher'' also was set here. Once the home of brawling sailors and burly porters, the wharf is now the genteel playground of the Boston Sailing Center and the white-liveried players of the Boston Croquet Club.

Walk along the wharf until you reach Clark Street, turning left and heading to St. Stephen's Church, the last of architect Charles Bullfinch's chapels remaining in Boston. Cross Hanover Street, and walk into Paul Revere Mall, a cool oasis of brick walls and leafy trees with park benches in front of plaques honoring the neighborhood's heroes and war dead. Old men play chess under the stern visage of a bronze Paul Revere heading out on his ``midnight ride.'' Revere was just one of the messengers that fateful night, but he's the one we recall, because of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's famous poem.

At the end of the mall is Old North Church, where Robert Newman is said to have hung the lanterns to tell the patriots the British were coming. The 197-foot steeple is a 1955 reconstruction of earlier steeples that were twice blown over since the church opened in 1723. Visit Revere's pew and read the plaques touting the many Revolutionary War supporters who were among the parishioners.

It's an uphill climb to Copp's Hill, home to the North End's most famous burial ground. More than 10,000 Bostonians are buried in the graveyard. They include Puritan leaders Cotton and Increase Mather, and Prince Hall, the leading black Revolutionary War activist. The view of Charleston Navy Yard from the hill is beautiful. The British thought so, too, and used the hill to shell the rebel stronghold there.

At the foot of the graveyard is the site of the Great Molasses Disaster of 1919, when a 2.5-million-gallon storage tank of the muck burst, killing 24 people. Across the street is 44 Hull St., reputed to be the skinniest house in Boston, at 9 feet 6 inches wide. It dates from the early 19th century, when homes were taxed based on lot size.

Walk down Snowhill Street and turn left on Prince Street. You're now in the heart of the residential part of Boston's ``Little Italy.'' The history lesson is over.

Turn right again on Salem Street. Opera plays from apartment windows and arguments in Italian echo down the alleys. The Italians are the latest immigrants - in the early 18th century, this was the commercial heart of Boston's Jewish community.

The street is lined with many small, family-run trattorias. My favorite is La Piccola Venezia - ``tiny Venice'' in Italian. Try the hefty lasagna, or if you are in an experimental mood, the chewy luscious scungilli over linguine - that's octopus and pasta.

The tour stops at Maria's Pastry Shop (46 Cross St.), home of the best sfogliatelle in Boston. While munching your creamy delight, check out the collection of marzipan animals and fruits in the windows, little still-life masterpieces of almond paste and coloring.

On Location

Boston is serving up a feast of food, music, the arts and wine events for the next three months. For information on events and weekend packages, call [phone] and request the ``Boston Overnight - Just for the Fun of It!'' brochure.

CAPTION(S):

Photo, Box

Photo: The Old North Church, where the lanterns were hung to tell the patriots the British were coming, looms over a statue of Paul Revere in Boston's North End.

H. Lorren Au Jr./Orange County Register

Box: On Location (See Text)