Exclusive | Fuggedabout Little Italy! NYCs hidden Italian enclaves are the real deal from antipasto to zeppole

New York’s Italian heart still beats.With more than 2.6 million paesanos living in NYC and environs — at last census, roughly 600,000 in the five boroughs — Italian-Americans are a vital part of city life and culture, a century after their ranks initially swelled to 17 percent of the city’s total population.Today, that number is down considerably, as the diaspora has dispersed to other parts of the country — to between five and six percent.

But even now, all over the Big Apple, or la Grande Mela, there remain blocks where you can hear the mother tongue, spot nonnas hollering for kids from their stoops, see guys in white tank tops showing off chest hair and cross necklaces, and catch entire families gathered for Sunday Mass — right before a neighbor invites you to pull up a lawn chair and stay a while.Manhattan’s Little Italy and The Bronx’s Arthur Avenue are just the tip of the boot.With New York currently celebrating Italian American Heritage Month, not to mention Columbus Day and the annual parade on Fifth Avenue this Monday, it’s the perfect time to dive into some of the under-the-radar outer-borough enclaves that are cooking up authentic Italian culture — right under your nose.As these villas prove, the old country isn’t going anywhere.

It’s right there in the bakeries, butcher shops, churches, coffee bars, gardens, and Sunday dinners.Here’s where to get a pizz-a the action this holiday weekend.Bensonhurst, a.k.a.“Brooklyn’s Little Italy,” has changed significantly since immigrants first descended on Bay Parkway in the early 1900s.

But don’t tell the remaining old-timers that Italian “Brook-a-leen” is dead.“Walk down any side street in Bensonhurst, and you’ll see the Italian-American presence right away,” Nick Papa, 37, a fourth-generation Italian-American told The Post of his neighborhood’s front yards, where Virgin Mary statues stand guard over manicured gardens.Fuggedabout those “false stories” that Benson...