Whenever a large group of people have had to emigrate from their nation to a new country, they’ve found ways to bring their cultures with them and keep in touch with their roots. Most notably, due to the language barrier and their socioeconomic status, they have frequently settled together in the same neighborhoods, often turning them into ¨little¨ versions of their home country. These areas frequently ended up becoming tourist attractions with authentic cuisine and festivals.
Today, we bring you one of the most well-known such neighborhoods: Little Italy. There are Little Italys all over the world, but we will highlight three in the Anglosphere. Leave a comment below if you’d like to learn what other places you could visit thanks to learning English, or join one of our courses today to bring you one step closer to traveling to these incredible places!
Little Italy in the US
Situated in Manhattan, New York City, this Little Italy is probably the most famous one in the world. Italians emigrated there during the 1880s primarily, and, depending on what part of Italy they came from, they resided in different streets: those from Naples lived on Mulberry, those from Puglia and Calabria lived on Mott, those from Sicily lived on Elizabeth, and those from Genoa lived on Baxter.
Nowadays, the neighborhood is home to plenty of Italian restaurants that attract tourists from all over the world. They also host several festivals, such as the Feast of San Gennaro, an 11-day festivity that celebrates Italian and Italian-American culture. It takes place in September, so this may be the ideal time to visit New York City and get to know Little Italy!
Aside from the one in the Big Apple, the US has countless other Little Italys, from New England all the way to California!
Before going, you may want to brush up on your American accent, and with us, you can start learning American English online today!
Little Italy in the UK
But the US is not the only place with a Little Italy. London has one such neighborhood of their own situated in Clerkenwell after Northern Italians emigrated there in the 1800s, during the Napoleonic wars and the Italian wars of unification. Interestingly, this Little Italy is not only composed of Italians: Maltese and Corsican immigrants also settled here and assimilated into the Italian community.
In the present day, it hosts the Procession in honour of Our Lady of Mount Camel, a procession that also has an Italian market. It takes place in July and is the biggest event of the year in this neighborhood. Additionally, much like its American counterpart, it’s also home to plenty of Italian restaurants to visit if you happen to be in the English capital!
Little Italy in Australia
Last but not least, let’s turn our attention to the other hemisphere to also find more Little Italys: Australia has four! Most notably, in Melbourne, the Little Italy present there gave birth to Melbourne’s famous cafe culture. So not only will you get to experience Italian culture abroad, you’ll also see how the Italian immigrants who settled in Australia had a profound impact on its culture!
This neighborhood is often described as vibrant and lively, and again you can find that it is full of the authentic flavors of Italy. This is the perfect place to go for a delicious meal, or to relax with a cup of coffee after a long day of seeing all that Melbourne has to offer. Who would want to miss it?
More Little Italys?
The list doesn’t end there! There are Little Italys in Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, and more! You could take a world tour to visit all the Little Italys founded in other countries and learn more about how Italian culture has blended with each of their new countries’ cultures. Learning English online can take you to all these places and more, and as such it is a valuable resource that will make your travels much more enriching for you.
Regardless of what Little Italy you choose to visit, you’ll be ready to go to any of these places and communicate with the locals if you enroll in one of our online English learning courses!