Little Italy is a neighbourhood of

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, Ontario, Canada, and the cultural centre of Ottawa's Italian community. Situated in

Centretown West Centretown West is a neighbourhood in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It lies to the west of Bronson Avenue, east of the O-Train Trillium Line, north of Carling Avenue, and south of Nanny Goat Hill , which is an escarpment to the north of Somerset Str ...

, it is bounded by Albert Street to the north, Carling Avenue to the south, the

O-Train The O-Train is a light metro transit system in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, operated by OC Transpo. The O-Train system has two lines, the electrically-operated Confederation Line (Line 1) and the diesel-operated Trillium Line (Line 2). Since May 20 ...

Trillium Line to the west, and approximately Bronson Avenue to the east, while the neighbourhood's main commercial area is along Preston Street. Little Italy is adjacent to

Chinatown A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austra ...

, whose business district centres on

Somerset Street Somerset Street may refer to: *Somerset Street (New Brunswick) *Somerset Street (Ottawa) Somerset Street is a street in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is divided into Somerset Street East and Somerset Street West by the Rideau Canal. Somerset Str ...

History

Little Italy was initially settled around 1900 by Italian immigrants. Following a fire at a small Murray Street chapel, the 1913 founding of St. Anthony of Padua Church at the corner of Booth Street and Gladstone Avenue cemented the immigrants' connections with the neighbourhood. Roughly between World War I and World War II, a second wave of Italian immigrants was joined by communities of Ukrainian and Polish immigrants in the area. In recent years with the integration of European immigrants, the neighbourhood has found itself home to Asian immigrants, primarily from China and Vietnam. In the 1960s a large section of the poorer neighbourhood was demolished, and replaced with the High School of Commerce, today the Adult High School in 1967. Since 1975, each June the neighbourhood hosts the Italian Week festival, Ottawa's celebration of Italian culture. In 2018, Ottawa's tallest tower, the Claridge Icon, was built to the south end of the neighborhood at the intersection of Preston and Carling. Nearly a dozen projects are either proposed, approved or under construction, including three buildings that will claim the top three spots on the city's list of tallest buildings. These projects are fueled by a recent service improvement announcement for the O-Train Trillium Line which will result in an eight-minute headway between trains at Carling Station as well as a new community design plan calling for high density near the transit station.

Culture

Two area streets have been given commemorative Italian street names. Gladstone Avenue is also called ''Via Marconi'', and Preston Street is called ''Corso Italia''.

Gallery

Preston Street Ottawa.jpg, Archway entrance Prestonstreetlittleitaly.JPG, Preston Street is a major commercial street in Littly Italy St Anthony's Roman Catholic church Ottawa.jpg,

St. Anthony of Padua Anthony of Padua ( it, Antonio di Padova) or Anthony of Lisbon ( pt, António/Antônio de Lisboa; born Fernando Martins de Bulhões; 15 August 1195 – 13 June 1231) was a Portuguese Catholic priest and friar of the Franciscan Order. He was bor ...

is a Roman Catholic church in Little Italy

References

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External links

Corso Italia NewsPreston Street Business Improvement Area

St. Anthony's ChurchIl Postino Canada
{{authority control Ethnic enclaves in Ontario European-Canadian culture in Ontario Neighbourhoods in Ottawa