By Tim Flaherty

Welcome to Frairy Street, running from North Street, past Baker’s (Meetinghouse) Pond, underneath a small railroad bridge, through the first Italian-American neighborhood in the town of Medfield, and ending at Dale Street.

Walking there a century ago you might well have seen men from the old country gathered on their front doorsteps speaking Italian with their voices and excitedly waving their hands and arms in the air and they reminisced about life in the old country.

Continuing down the street after 1933 your next stop may have been the Rossi family’s Frances Cafe. At the Frances you’d see patrons sitting in large comfortable booths, enjoying spaghetti and meatballs, veal and chicken parm, or any other food smothered in chops with different pastas.

While continuing down throughout this neighborhood you’ll quickly notice that this street is home to many Italian families like the Palumbos and the Iafollas, as well as the Procaccini and DiMezza families and a few other townspeople, like the Belmonts, of different nationalities.