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List of Italian-American neighborhoods

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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There are localized concentrations of Italian Americans in many metropolitan areas of the United States, especially in the industrial cities of the Northeast and Midwest, as well as certain cities in California. Today, the state of New York has the largest population of Italian-Americans, while Rhode Island and Connecticut have the highest overall percentages in relation to their respective populations.

In contrast, most of the rest of the country (exceptions being South Florida and New Orleans) have fewer Italian-American concentrations.

According to a recent United Census Bureau estimate, 17.8 million Americans are of Italian descent.[1] Communities of Italian Americans were established in many major industrial cities of the early 20th century, such as Baltimore (particularly Little Italy, Baltimore), Boston (particularly in the North End and East Boston) along with numerous nearby cities and towns, Philadelphia proper (particularly South Philadelphia) and the Philadelphia metro area (particularly neighborhoods in Delco, Atlantic City, Little Italy, Wilmington; and Vineland), Pittsburgh (particularly Bloomfield), Northeastern Pennsylvania cities, Lehigh Valley cities, Detroit, Providence (particularly Federal Hill), St. Louis (particularly The Hill), Chicago, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Youngstown, Erie, Cleveland, Buffalo, Newark, Utica, Syracuse, New York’s Capital District, and New York City, which boasts the largest Italian-American population, which live in several concentrated communities in the New York metropolitan area, including the five boroughs, Long Island, Westchester County, Fairfield County and North Jersey. New Orleans, Louisiana was the first site of immigration of Italians into America in the 19th century, before Italy was a unified nation-state. This was before New York Harbor and Baltimore became the preferred destinations for Italian immigrants.

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Alabama

  • Daphne – Prior to the 1978 annexation of the Lake Forest subdivision, Daphne was a heavily Italian community, and pre-1978 Daphne territory remains Italian, with street names such as Guarisco. The Archdiocese of Mobile considers Christ the King Parish in Daphne an Italian-American parish.

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Northern California

  • Cotati – Italian community in the area's grape-growing industry.[3]
  • Excelsior District, San Francisco – Italian-American Social Club is on Russia St., and Calabria Brothers Deli is around the corner on Mission Street.[4]
  • Fresno and some Italian descendants in portions of the San Joaquin Valley (i.e. Kern County with its grape industry).[5]
  • Gilroy – Italian community in the area's grape-growing industry.[6]
  • "Italian Colony", Oakland.[7]
  • Marin County (Albert Park, San Rafael).[8]
  • Napa – Little Italy is the East Napa historic neighborhoods of First-Juarez-Third Streets and Alta Heights. The Napa Valley wine industry owes its heritage to Italian vintners.[9]
  • North Beach, San Francisco – baseball legend Joe DiMaggio grew up here. The Italian Heritage Parade (formerly the Columbus Day Parade) is the oldest in the U.S. and one of the largest. North Beach is also the home of City Lights Books, which helped to give birth to the Beats literary movement.[10]
  • Sacramento metro area – descendants of the 1849 California Gold Rush.[9] In December 2021, 49th to 59th streets and J Street to Folsom Boulevard of East Sacramento was designated as "Little Italy". The neighborhood historically had many Italian immigrants in the early 1900s, with businesses about, with lesser in number today.[11]
  • San Jose – San Jose's old Italian neighborhoods are Goose Town, North San Jose and the River Street/San Pedro Neighborhood. Each of these neighborhoods consisted of an Italian Church built by the Italian American community. The River Street Neighborhood is currently being revitalized and is now referred to as Little Italy San Jose. This neighborhood is located adjacent to the SAP Center and is anchored by a Gateway Arch and Italian Cultural Center & Museum and has several authentic Italian businesses.[12]
  • Santa Cruz County – CA coastal county.[13]
  • Sonoma County –the Italian Swiss Colony coop founded in the 1880s by Andrea Sbarbaro from Switzerland.
  • Spaghetti Hill, Monterey – birthplace of former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta. The Salinas Valley also has many Italian descendants.[9]
  • South San Francisco – sizable Italian community.[14]
  • Stockton – descendants of the 1849 California Gold Rush.[15]
  • Temescal, Oakland was thriving with Italian immigrants since the 1960s.[7]

Southern California

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Colorado

  • Denver – "Little Italy" has its roots in the Highlands neighborhood of North Denver. Italian miners, railroad workers and farmers developed Colorado in the late 19th century, and northern Italians are well represented. And South Denver along with Cherry Creek has a number of Italian-Americans.
  • Pueblo – Hundreds of Sicilians, particularly, settled in Pueblo at the turn of the 20th century. They have influenced the culture of the city powerfully.
  • Trinidad – retirement community in the Sunbelt region of the US typically have many elderly Italian-Americans from the east coast.
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Connecticut

19.3% of Connecticut's population claims Italian ancestry, making it the second most Italian state in the U.S. after Rhode Island.

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Delaware

Florida

Illinois

Indiana

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Missouri

Nebraska

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Jersey

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New Jersey municipalities with over 25% of the population identifying themselves as of Italian ancestry (in those municipalities where at least 1,000 residents identified their ancestry):[40]

Other places in New Jersey

Paterson used to have the largest Italian percentage of any NJ city.

New York

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The state of New York has the largest population of Italian Americans, at 3.1 million people. The majority of Italian Americans in New York City originated from southern parts of Italy.

New York City

New York City is home to the largest Italian-American population in North America and third largest Italian population outside of Italy, according to the 2000 census. See also Italians in New York City for more info.

Thumb
Arthur Avenue in the Bronx

Long Island

Long Island has a large Italian-American population.[44]

Westchester County

Yorktown in Westchester County has the annual feast of San Gennaro.[45]

Rockland County

Upstate New York

North Carolina

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

  • Portland once had a "Little Italy" neighborhood.

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

19% of Rhode Island residents are Italian American, the greatest percentage of any state. 199,180 of Rhode Island's population of 1,048,319 claim Italian ancestry.

Texas

Utah

Washington

  • Seattle Once had an Italian enclave that was referred to as “Garlic Gulch”
  • Tacoma

West Virginia

Approximately 11% of the combined population of "Mountaineer Country", collectively the north central West Virginia cities of Clarksburg, Fairmont and Morgantown, claim Italian ancestry, mostly from Italian immigrants recruited to work in mining and glass manufacturing.[59]

Wisconsin

  • Greenbush neighborhood of Madison – historically heavily Italian, but older Italians are dying off and younger ones have moved to the suburbs
  • Historic Third Ward, Milwaukee
  • Cable and other small towns in northern Wisconsin
  • Racine
  • Kenosha has the largest Italian community in the state.

References

Further reading

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