Ask people about their favorite Italian-American foods and traditions, and you’re sure to get a list of pasta dishes in red sauce, thin-crusted pizza and — if they’re really hard-core — maybe the Christmas Eve seafood extravaganza known as the Feast of the Seven Fishes.

Mary Menniti would love it if figs were also part of the conversation.

The New Castle native grew up working in the garden with her paternal grandfather, Antonio Martone, who immigrated to the U.S. in 1912 from the province of Caserta in Italy’s Campania region. Along with classic Italian produce like tomatoes, peppers, garlic and fennel, he grew fig trees — a plant that is notoriously challenging to grow in cold climates such as PIttsburgh’s.

To preserve their cultural identity, the Italians who left the region in th

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