The wallet Isidoro Ventullo pulls out to try and pay for brunch at a restaurant in Little Italy is makeshift — a patch of grey duct tape stitched together like a foldable envelope. In it, he has neatly folded in his photo ID, some smaller denominations and a yellow flash card bearing a list of essential phone numbers and names.
At his stage in life, the 91-year-old is determined to hold on to what is familiar — whether it’s a tattered wallet or the neighbourhood he calls home.
It’s partly why more than a month after being evicted from his apartment in Little Italy in the midst of a heat wave, he has yet to find a permanent place to live.
