Little Italy | |
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Neighbourhood | |
 Skyline of Little Italy | |
 Interactive map of Little Italy | |
| Coordinates:45°24′15″N75°42′42″W / 45.4042°N 75.7117°W /45.4042; -75.7117 | |
| Country | Canada |
| Province | Ontario |
| City | Ottawa |
Little Italy is a neighbourhood ofOttawa,Ontario, Canada, and the cultural centre of Ottawa'sItalian community. Situated inCentretown West, it is bounded by Albert Street to the north,Carling Avenue to the south,O-TrainLine 2 to the west, and approximatelyBronson Avenue to the east, while the neighbourhood's main commercial area is alongPreston Street.
Little Italy is adjacent toChinatown, whose business district centres onSomerset Street.
Little Italy was initially settled around 1900 by Italian immigrants. Following a fire at a small Murray Street chapel, the 1913 founding ofSt. Anthony of Padua Church at the corner of Booth Street and Gladstone Avenue cemented the immigrants' connections with the neighbourhood. Roughly betweenWorld War I andWorld 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.[1]
In the 1960s a large section of the poorer neighbourhood was demolished, and replaced with theHigh School of Commerce, today theAdult 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, theClaridge Icon, was built to the south end of the neighborhood at the intersection of Preston andCarling. 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 oftallest buildings. These projects are fueled by a recent service improvement announcement for the O-TrainTrillium Line which will result in an eight-minute headway between trains atDow's Lake station as well as a new community design plan calling for high density near the transit station.
Two area streets have been given commemorative Italian street names.Gladstone Avenue is also calledViaMarconi, andPreston Street is calledCorso Italia.
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