Little Italy is a neighborhood on the west side of
Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington (Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...
.
Little Italy is bounded roughly by 4th Street to the south, Union Street to the west, Clayton Street to the east, and Pennsylvania Avenue to the north. Like other neighborhoods with the "Little Italy" designation, Little Italy in Wilmington has a large
Italian-American
Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, ...
population. There are several Italian-American owned and operated businesses, including restaurants, law firms, and photographers, located in Little Italy.
One of the central features of Little Italy is
St. Anthony's of Padua Roman Catholic Church, which also includes a grade school and the
Padua Academy, located outside of Little Italy but nearby on Wilmington's west side. St. Anthony's also hosts the Italian Festival, a week-long
festival
A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival ...
which takes place annually in June and celebrates Italian culture through food, music, a
midway with rides and games, and games of chance generally found next to the church building.
Notable people
In 2010, a 78 minute documentary about the history of Little Italy in Wilmington, Delaware and Saint Anthony's Church which is entitled ''Bells On The Hill'' was released. The premiere screening sold out four days in advance at the local Wilmington, independent venue Theatre N. The film was written and directed by Gus Parodi
and Matt Swift
References
External links
St. Anthony of Padua ParishWest End Neighborhood House Gus Parodi : Stories From the Hill
{{Little Italy
Italian-American culture in Delaware
Little Italys in the United States
Music venues in Delaware
Neighborhoods in Wilmington, Delaware
Festivals in Delaware