Little Italy Explained

Little Italy is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood. The concept of "Little Italy" holds many different aspects of the Italian culture. There are shops selling Italian goods as well as Italian restaurants lining the streets. A "Little Italy" strives essentially to have a version of the country of Italy placed in the middle of a large non-Italian city. This sort of enclave is often the result of periods of Italian immigration, during which people of the same culture settled or were ostracized and segregated together in certain areas. As cities modernized and grew, these areas became known for their ethnic associations, and ethnic neighborhoods like "Little Italy" blossomed, becoming the areas they are today.

List of Little Italys

Australia

• Little Italy, Melbourne
• Norton Street, Sydney
• Beaumont Street, Newcastle
• New Farm, Queensland

Canada

• Little Italy, Edmonton in Alberta
  • Little Italy, Montreal, in Quebec Little Italy, Ottawa, in Ontario
• Little Italy, Toronto, in Ontario
• Little Italy, Vancouver, in British Columbia
• Little Italy, Windsor, in Ontario
• Little Italy, Winnipeg, in Manitoba

New Zealand

• Island Bay, Wellington, is often nicknamed "Little Italy"^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}

United Kingdom

• Little Italy in Clerkenwell, London.
• The area around Wardour Street and Old Compton Street in Soho, London used to be known as Little Italy.^[5]
• Ancoats in Manchester used to be known as Little Italy.^[6]
• The area around Scotland road in Liverpool used to be known as Little Italy.^[7]
• The area around Fazeley Street in Digbeth in Birmingham used to be known as Little Italy.^[8]

United States

See also: List of Italian-American neighborhoods.

• Several Little Italys exist in New York City, including but not limited to:
  • Little Italy, Manhattan
  • Italian Harlem
  • Arthur Avenue, Bronx^[9]
  • Morris Park, Bronx^[10]
  • Bensonhurst, Brooklyn^[11]
  • Dyker Heights, Brooklyn
  • Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn
  • Italian Williamsburg, Brooklyn
  • Ozone Park, Queens
  • Howard Beach, Queens
  • Middle Village, Queens
  • Rosebank, Staten Island^[12]
• Philadelphia, home to the second-largest Italian-American population in the United States, also has several Little Italys:
  • South Philadelphia – largely Italian
    • Bella Vista
    • Central South Philadelphia
    • Girard Estate
    • Italian Market
    • Marconi Plaza
    • Packer Park
    • Passyunk West
    • St. Richard
    • Whitman
  • Overbrook/West Philadelphia
  • Areas of Kensington
  • Sections of Northeast Philadelphia
    • Mayfair
    • Tacony
  • Sections of Southwest Philadelphia
  • Areas of West Kensington
• New England

• • Little Italy, Millinocket, Maine
  • North End, Boston, in Massachusetts^[13]
  • Little Italy, Bridgeport, in Connecticut
  • Federal Hill, Providence, Rhode Island
  • Little Italy, Waterbury, in Connecticut
  • Wooster Square, in New Haven, Connecticut^[14]
• New York

• • Dunwoodie, Yonkers, New York
  • Little Italy, Schenectady, in New York^[15]
  • Little Italy, Rochester, New York
  • Little Italy, Syracuse, in New York
  • Little Italy, Poughkeepsie, New York
  • Little Italy, Troy, New York
  • Mansion Hill, Albany, New York
• Pennsylvania

• • Bloomfield, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  • Little Italy, Connellsville, in Pennsylvania
  • Little Italy in Erie, Pennsylvania^[16]
  • Roseto, Pennsylvania
• New Jersey

• • Chambersburg and South Trenton, New Jersey
  • Little Italy, Paterson, New Jersey
• California

• • Little Italy, San Diego, California
  • North Beach, San Francisco, in California^[17]
  • San Pedro, Los Angeles, in California
• Other:
  • Little Italy, Clinton, in Indiana
  • Little Italy, Chicago, in Illinois
  • Little Italy, Arkansas
  • Little Italy, Baltimore, in Maryland
  • Little Italy, Wilmington, Delaware
  • Little Italy, Cleveland, in Ohio
  • Little Italy, Omaha, in Nebraska
  • The Hill in St. Louis, Missouri^[18]
  • West Seventh in St. Paul, Minnesota
  • Independence, Louisiana
  • Little Italy, Clay County, West Virginia
  • Little Italy, Randolph County, West Virginia

Republic of Ireland

• The Italian Quarter, Dublin
• Little Italy, Dublin. An Italian migrant quarter that existed in the vicinity of Werburgh Street.^{[19] [20]}

Other Italian neighborhoods

Some Italian neighborhoods may have other names, but are colloquially referred to as "Little Italy," including:

Argentina

• La Boca, Buenos Aires

Australia

• Norton Street

in the Sydney suburb of Leichhardt

• Ramsay Street: in the Sydney suburb of Haberfield
• Campbelltown/Athelstone in Adelaide
• New Farm in Brisbane
• New Italy, New South Wales

Brazil

• Mooca, São Paulo
• Bixiga, São Paulo
• Santa Felicidade, Curitiba, Paraná
• Savassi, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais

Canada

• St. Leonard, a borough of Montreal with a large Italian population
• LaSalle, a borough in Montreal with a large Italian population
• Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles, another borough of Montreal with a prominent Italian population
• Corso Italia, a neighbourhood in Toronto
• Vaughan, Ontario, A city in north of Toronto with a high population of Italians
• Stoney Creek, Hamilton, Ontario^[21]
• North Burnaby, British Columbia

Chile

• Barrio Italia, Ñuñoa, Santiago de Chile
• Capitán Pastene, northwest Temuco

Kenya

• Malindi District, Kilifi County

South Africa

• Orange Grove, Johannesburg

United Kingdom

• Bedford, where the population is about 8% Italian or of Italian heritage.^[22]
• Hoddesdon, in Hertfordshire has a large Sicilian population.^[23]
• Glasgow is the centre of the Scottish Italian community.^[24]

United States

See also: List of Italian-American neighborhoods.

• North Beach, San Francisco, California
• San Pedro, Los Angeles, California
• Little Italy, San Diego, California
• Spaghetti Hill, Monterey, California
• Little Italy/Morse Park Historic District, Wheat Ridge, Colorado
• Thompsonville (Enfield), Connecticut
• Town Plot in Waterbury, Connecticut
• Wooster Square in New Haven, Connecticut
• Italia in northern Florida
• Pompano Beach, a section is partially an Italian neighborhood
• Taylor Street Archives, Chicago, Illinois (The port-of-call for Chicago's Italian Americans)
• Heart of Italy, Chicago, Illinois
• Little Sicily, Chicago, Illinois
• Bridgeport, Chicago, Illinois
• Dunning, Chicago
• Holy Rosary Neighborhood, Indianapolis, Indiana
• South Des Moines, Des Moines, Iowa
• Independence, Louisiana
• Old Forge, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania (Also known as "The Pizza Capital of the World" for their pizza)
• Little Italy, Baltimore, Maryland
• North End, Boston, Massachusetts
• Columbus Park, Kansas City, Missouri
• The Hill, St. Louis, Missouri
• North East, Kansas City, Missouri (formerly Columbus Square)
• Eastern Market, Detroit, Michigan, considered to be the city's "Little Italy"
• Little Italy, Omaha, Nebraska
• Seventh Avenue, Newark, New Jersey
• Varick Street, Utica, New York
• Dominick Street, Rome, New York
• North Side, Buffalo, New York, though "Little Italy" was considered the West Side of the city
• Schenectady, New York, proposed "Little Italy" from Hillary Clinton, to run through sections of downtown.
• Utica, New York, East Side considered to be city's "Little Italy"
• Brier Hill, Youngstown, Ohio
• Italian Village (Columbus), Ohio
• Italian Market Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Bloomfield, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Murray Hill, Cleveland, Ohio
• Easton, Pennsylvania
• Roseto, Pennsylvania
• Federal Hill, Providence, Rhode Island
• Johnston, Rhode Island has the highest percentage of Italian Americans of any municipality in the country.
• Galveston, Texas, south of Houston, highest Italian-American population in the Greater Houston as well as Texas.
• Judiciary Square, Washington, D.C.

See also

• • Italian diaspora Ethnic enclave
• Chinatown

Further reading

• Buzzelli. Michael. From Little Britain to Little Italy: an urban ethnic landscape study in Toronto. Journal of Historical Geography. 2001. 27. 4. 573–587. 10.1006/jhge.2001.0355. 55546856 .
• Frunza, Bogdana Simina. Streetscape and Ethnicity: New York's Mulberry Street and the Redefinition of the Italian American Ethnic Identity (ProQuest, 2008)
• Gabaccia. Donna R.. Inventing 'Little Italy'. Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. 2007. 7–41. 25144462. 6. 1. 10.1017/S1537781400001596. 162485743.
• Gabaccia. Donna R.. Global Geography of 'Little Italy': Italian Neighbourhoods in Comparative Perspective. Modern Italy. 2006. 11. 1. 9–24. 10.1080/13532940500489510. 56372320 .
• Harney, Robert F. "Toronto's Little Italy, 1885-1945." in Robert F. Harney and J. Vincenza Scarpaci, eds. Little Italies in North America (1981): 41-62.
• Immerso, Michael. Newark's little Italy: The vanished first ward (Rutgers University Press, 1999).
• Juliani, Richard N. Building Little Italy: Philadelphia's Italians Before Mass Migration (Penn State Press, 2005)
• Pozzetta, George E. "The Mulberry District of New York City: The Years before World War One." in Robert F. Harney and J. Vincenza Scarpaci, eds. Little Italies in North America (Toronto: The Multicultural History Society of Ontario, 1979) pp: 7-40.
• Sandler, Gilbert. The Neighborhood: The Story of Baltimore's Little Italy (Bodine & Associates, 1974).
• Worrall. Janet E. . The impact of the Ku Klux Klan and prohibition on Denver's little Italy. Journal of the West. 43. 4 . 2004. 32–40.

Notes and References

1. Web site: An Immigrant Nation - The Unbroken Thread | Television | NZ On Screen. NZ On. Screen. www.nzonscreen.com.
2. Web site: Island Bay Amore Mio. www.maritimemuseum.co.nz.
3. Web site: The Dellabarca family, Island Bay – Italians – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand.
4. Web site: ISLAND BAY LITTLE ITALY. ISLAND BAY LITTLE ITALY.
5. Book: Little Italy . 2008 . Camden Local Studios and Archives Centre . 9781900846219 . 1–60.
6. Web site: envenuti to Ancoats Little Italy, Manchester, England, UK . Manchester's Ancoats Little Italy.
7. Web site: Liverpool's Italian Families . Liverpool's Italian Families.
8. Web site: Little Italy/ The Italian Quarter . billdargue.jimdofree.com.
9. Web site: Holy Cannoli: Little Italy Thrives in the Bronx. www.ny1.com.
10. Web site: Another Little Italy, With Scant Parking to Match. Jennifer. Bleyer. 30 December 2007. NYTimes.com.
11. Web site: Italian-Americans Welcome Neighbors With Open Arms At Il Centro - BKLYNER. bklyner.com. 28 November 2018 .
12. Web site: Rosebank, Staten Island: A Little Italy, Trying Not to Shrink. C. J.. Hughes. 26 April 2017. NYTimes.com.
13. Web site: A Guide To Boston's Little Italy: The North End. 2 March 2011.
14. Web site: Branford teacher remembers Little Italy in New Haven's Wooster Square in pictorial book. Lisa. Reisman. 4 January 2019. New Haven Register.
15. Web site: Schenectady little italy - Google Search. www.google.com.
16. Web site: Little Italy is being made more liveable. 20 May 2016. YOURERIE.
17. Web site: Celebrate 150 years of North Beach in San Francisco. USA TODAY.
18. Web site: Best Of The Midwest: Eating Around St. Louis, Part Two. John. Mariani. Forbes.
19. Web site: Fallon. Donal. 2018-04-30. Dublin's Little Italy. 2023-08-08. comeheretome.com. en.
20. Web site: Appleton. James. 2019-12-08. Where to Find Italy in Dublin. 2023-08-08. italymagazine.com . en.
21. News: In Hamilton, Stoney Creek is called 'Tony Creek'. Persichilli. Angelo. 2004-01-19. Hill Times.
22. News: Italians in Bedford. The Guardian.
23. Web site: Lee Valley little Sicily . Great British Life.
24. Web site: Italian immigrants in Scotland . BBC Bitesize.