ItalianAware: Little Italy : A List of the Best Ones

What would a list of Little Italies look like? Well, first we'd have to define the meaning of a true Little Italy.

A true Little Italy, by our estimation, is characterized by some combination of all the following elements:

1) Significant Italian & Italian American population

2) A Genuine neighborhood- not a carefully crafted tourist trap

3) Features Italian restaurants and specialty shops, owned and frequented by Italian locals.

4) Italian language is spoken on a routine basis

From those elements, it is clear to see that Wikipedia's List of Little Italies is completely inaccurate. While it does seem to list places with large Italian populations, it does not “nail” what is and is not a Little Italy. For example, Staten Island, NY has an unbelievably large Italian population. However, it is not home to a single Little Italy.

Staten Island is known as "Staten Italy" - but has no Little Italy

Using those factors for determining where the “true” Little Italies are, we compiled the following list. This list is based on Little Italies we have visited. It will be updated when we travel to new, deserving places.

Boston's North End, Mass.
Baltimore, MD
Federal Hill, Providence, RI
Wooster Street, New Haven, CT
Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, NY
Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, NY
Arthur Avenue, Bronx, NY
North Beach, San Francisco, CA
Heart of Italy, Chicago, Ill.

The above are what we consider “true” Little Italies. Our travels have allowed us to investigate these places thoroughly – and we feel that they are accurate and fair. In each of the above named places, there is a significant Italian/Italian American population, Italian is spoken on a routine basis, Italian specialty shops are frequented by Italian locals and most importantly: the area is a genuine community.

Street Sign- Federal Hill, RI

What do we mean by “genuine community?” Simply put, the area feels like a real neighborhood- with real neighbors and people committed to that particular community. People have their “roots” there and work hard to keep the community pristine. When we went to the above Little Italies, we knew that we weren't just speaking with workers, waiters and barristas – we were speaking with people who had a long familial history with the community.

Street Sign- Wooster Street, CT

This “genuineness” factor is severely lacking in our most glaring omission on the list: Manhattan's Little Italy. The Little Italy of Manhattan is the most overrated, overhyped, underwhelming Little Italy we've ever visited. It is simply a tourist trap- carefully designed to get people to come to the area and eat a mediocre dinner. It sells Italian horns, T-Shirts and photos of John Gotti. It's workers can't find Italy on a map, let alone actually speak Italian.

San Gennaro Feast Sign- NY

More importantly, the area has been abandoned by Italians. They no longer work, live or eat there. Simply stated, the area is not a place Italians identify with. It is a place Americans identify with as being a representation of what is Italian. The area is essentially a cartoon version of what it used to be. Little Italy, Manhattan is an Italian theme park- not an authentic community. The same can be said, unfortunately, of Philadelphia. This stems from a missing feeling of “community” along with a disjointed Italian population and a total loss of the Italian language.

So, stay tuned as we update this list. And, don't forget to check out our write ups, reviews and photos of the Little Italies we have visited.

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