That’s an expensive meatball.

John “Baby John” DeLutro has seen it all over the years at the Feast of San Gennaro in Little Italy. After all, he’s been at it since he had a cannoli.

And the 71-year-old owner of Cafe Palermo on Mulberry Street told The Post that a small but mighty force is keeping the Naples celebration going, even as prices rise faster than pizza crust.

“Cheese is very expensive, milk is very expensive,” said DeLutro, known locally as the “Cannoli King.”

“You can’t charge more for these products. How can you charge $10 for a cannoli? You can’t. I have $7.”

The festival, which is expected to draw more than 1.1 million visitors to Little Italy from September 12 to 22, features Italian fare ranging from sausage and peppers to Zeppoles and cannolis.

According to Danny Fratta, owner of Danny’s on the Corner, a restaurant in San Gennaro known for its Torrone nougat, inflation has driven up the prices of the ingredients needed to produce all of these staples.

“When we came back in 2021 and I started buying what I needed for this party, the price was three times what it had been before,” said owner Danny Fratta.

“I don’t want to hear any complaints from anyone about how my prices have gone up, because everything has gone up. We have to change this.”

Danny’s on the Corner can trace its roots back to a Torrone stand run by Fratta’s great-grandmother in the 1920s. It was one of the party’s first vendors, the owner said.

Fratta, 44, who took over the stall from his uncle Vinny after he died of COVID-19 in 2020, remembers working the stands as a child, serving his family’s treats to the crowds of travelers.

The city of New York honored Vincent “Vinny Peanuts” Sabatino and named Mulberry Street after him last month.

One of the most important factors that keeps the festival alive today is social media, Fratta said, stressing the importance of the new generation in keeping the Italian tradition alive.

“What happened was that the old hands in the business started dying out over the years,” he said. “I always said to my uncle, we have to modernize, because a lot of people used to come to San Gennaro and they don’t come back.”

DeLutro shares similar memories of San Gennaro, he told The Post. He started running the annual Italian celebration at stalls with his grandmother, uncle and mother, the latter of whom owned a fish stall.

He eventually worked his way up to scrubbing clams to sell at the party. He fondly remembers growing up on Mulberry Street between Grand and Broome Streets with more than 50 other family members.

“Now I am the last living relative in this block,” he said.

“Has it changed? Drastically,” he said of the party. “The people have changed. There are no more Italians.”

According to DeLutro, sky-high prices aren’t the only challenge for loyal sellers. Changing tastes and demand for flavors are also a major issue.

“I have seven flavors, but I’m coming up with more flavors,” he said. “Mine is the classic, the original. But all these kids, all these young kids, want flavors.”

Despite the vast changes the festival has undergone since then, the San Gennaro festival is still “the only time here where I see people I haven’t seen in all these years,” DeLutro said.

“(It) is) all the people who stick together: they know the business, the culture, the vibe, the singing, the music,” he said. “It’s like when you want to see someone, you have to go to a wedding or a funeral.

“Why go to a funeral when you can come here?”