The 12 Best ‘Little Italys’ Around the World

Probably the world’s most famous Little Italy is in lower Manhattan. Bordered by Tribeca, Soho, Chinatown, and the Bowery, this little enclave of Italy is a viable alternative to hopping on the next flight to Europe. When in the late 1800s, emigrants from Italy arrived in Manhattan, they recreated their homeland within bustling Manhattan. Now it is the place for authentic cannoli, pizza, cured meats, and cheeses, with delicatessen stores and restaurants making for a picture-perfect foodie destination. September is especially bustling when the Feast of San Gennaro turns the streets into a festival like no other.

In and around Taylor Street, Chicago’s Little Italy (often called University Village) used to be more exclusively Italian than it is now, but you can still get a good dose of Italy. Explore the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame, the lovely Shrine of our Lady of Pompeii, and plenty of good Italian restaurants, making food tours through the area a must. If visiting in the summer months, make straight for Mario’s Italian Lemonade stall, with its cutesy and oh-so-Instagram-able façade and superb frozen lemonade. It will open again for business in May 2024.

Toronto has not only one Little Italy but two for good measure: Corso Italia. Little Italy is found around College Street, with the Italian flag and the name of the neighborhood emblazoned on its street signs. Here you will find gelato, Italian food, and delicatessen; the Italian Walk of Fame celebrating actors and businesspeople of Italian descent; and plenty of great places where to sit, watch the world go by, and indulge in a little dolce far niente. As for Corso Italia, located around St Clair Avenue West, the Italian population is declining, but head there when Italy wins at a big sports game, and you’ll still find plenty of enthusiasm.

Lygon Street is famous as the birthplace of Melbourne’s café culture, which should really be spelled caffé culture. Lygon Street, Melbourne’s Little Italy, is where you find Italian coffee, Italian baked goods, Italian restaurants, and Italian delis that sell you Italian olive oil, Italian salami, and all sorts of other ingredients that you won’t find anywhere else in Melbourne. The state of Victoria has the highest number of Italian immigrants in Australia, and Melbourne’s Lygon Street, the heart of the Italian Carlton district, is reportedly the reason that Melbourne is twinned with Milan. Melbourne’s Little Italy is also the home to Toto’s Pizza House, reportedly Australia’s original pizzeria. There is also debate that the country’s first espresso machine was installed in Carlton.

In the mid-1800s, many Italian immigrants settled around Iron Cove in the southwestern neighborhood of Leichardt, perfect for fishing. The small Italianate area grew over the years to expand into neighboring quarters. The pride in this so-called Italian heart of Sydney was such that in 2019; the local council voted unanimously to celebrate the long-standing connection between Italo-Australians and the Inner West by renaming the area Little Italy.

Just across the peripherique in northeastern Paris, in the idyllic suburb of Nogent-sur-Marne, café is spelled caffé, a hint as to the local population demographic. While Italians were busy relocating around the world in the late 1800s, Paris offered many opportunities not too far from home. Settling on the outskirts and helping to build the suburb of Nogent on the river Marne, Plenty of restaurants and businesses still carry Italian names, and when visiting the cemetery, you find more Italian names than French ones.

Just northeast of the British Museum lies London’s Little Italy. Not as famous as its Chinatown  (or indeed its Little Venice, which gets its name not from any Italian immigrants but the presence of the Great Union Canal and Regent’s Canal), Little Italy is still a great spot for an Italian fix in the capital. It started in the late 1800s when great crowds of Italian immigrants went where the work was and settled down with their families, creating a home from home. Today, while the Italian influence is somewhat diluted, there are still original family businesses around, and the Italian atmosphere thrives.

La Boca, Italian for “the mouth,” is a quarter, or barrio, in Buenos Aires best known for its colorful houses. But as the name already hints, this is an originally Italian neighborhood, with mostly Genoese Italians settling at the mouth of the river Riachuelo at the end of the 19^th century. These immigrants worked hard, mostly in nearby meat factories, and cheered up their gloomy new life by literally painting the town. Today the colorful houses are still there, as are the Italian restaurants and bars, but more mixed than 150 years ago.

Santiago de Chile’s Barrio Italia is the destination for foodies in the capital. Filled with markets, restaurants, cafes, and bars, the cultural neighborhood is popular with overseas visitors, especially the historic buildings and European atmosphere. Many leftovers hark back to its first settlers from Italy, with the Teatro Italia and many shops along the aptly named Avenida Italia.

A New Italy, located between Mexico City and the Pacific coast, was founded in 1909 by Italian immigrants who worked and farmed a large patch of the then-dry land and became the largest hacienda or ejido in Mexico. The settlement of Nueva Italia de Ruiz in Mexico lies right next to a region called Lombardia, making the region feel and sound even more Italian than Mexican. While at the time, Italians came over to move into and work in the region, this is now only a Little Italy by name rather than by populace, with hardly any of the original Italian workforce left in the region.

On the Indian Ocean, some 75 miles north of Mombasa, lies a beachy tourist hotspot of Kenya: Malindi. Countless hotels and resorts line the coastal stretch, looking out across the reef to the open ocean. But there is more to Malindi than meets the eye. Malindi, dubbed Little Italy, is brimming with gelaterias, pizza, and pasta restaurants, and you hear ciao more often than you hear jambo. This Kenyan Little Italy houses the country’s largest European population, and they just so happen to be Italian. It all started in the late 1960s when it was set up, bringing Italian workers to the coast. Since then, it has escalated into a veritable Little Italy, with many vacation residences owned by Italians.

When you see pictures of Phu Quoc, a Vietnamese island off the coast of Cambodia in the Gulf of Thailand, you’d be forgiven for thinking that you had landed somewhere along the Italian Mediterranean coast. Colorful houses have Vespas standing outside them, and there are Romanesque fountains, artwork, and even a gladiator statue. There are canals, mosaic decor, faux ruins, even colorful little fishing boats bobbing around the coves, and many Italian restaurants. While one side of the island looks like a tropical paradise, the other looks like Italy on steroids. But, while this Little Italy might look Italian, it is only in name and looks. You’ll be hard-pushed to find many Italians actually living there.