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.
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Etymology
Before the popularization of the name "Little Italy", Italian ethnic enclaves were most often referred to in English as the “Italian colony”. The term "Little Italy" was coined in the mid-1880s, and its oldest recorded use was by The New York Times in 1886, in reference to the Italian ethnic enclave that had developed on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The name "Little Italy" is modeled after "Little Germany" (Kleindeutschland), a historic German ethnic enclave in Manhattan that predated the newly emerging Italian one located nearby. Only after 1900 did "Little Italy" replace "Italian colony" as the most frequently used label for immigrant Italian ethnic enclaves.
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"
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.
Ancoats in Manchester used to be known as Little Italy.
The area around Scotland Road in Liverpool used to be known as Little Italy.
The area around Fazeley Street in Digbeth in Birmingham used to be known as Little Italy.
United States
Several Little Italys exist in New York City, including but not limited to:
Little Italy, Manhattan
Italian Harlem
Arthur Avenue, Bronx
Morris Park, Bronx
Bensonhurst, Brooklyn
Dyker Heights, Brooklyn
Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn
Italian Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Ozone Park, Queens
Howard Beach, Queens
Middle Village, Queens
Rosebank, Staten Island
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
Republic of Ireland
The Italian Quarter, Dublin
Little Italy, Dublin. An Italian migrant quarter that existed in the vicinity of Werburgh Street.
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
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.
Hoddesdon, in Hertfordshire, has a large Sicilian population.
Glasgow is the centre of the Scottish Italian community.
United States
Spaghetti Hill, Monterey, California
Little Italy/Morse Park Historic District, Wheat Ridge, Colorado
Thompsonville (Enfield), Connecticut
Italia in northern Florida
Pompano Beach, Florida; 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
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"