Little Italy, Ottawa

Little Italy
Neighbourhood
St. Anthony of Padua is a Roman Catholic church situtated in Little Italy
Coordinates: 45°24′15″N 75°42′42″W / 45.40417°N 75.71167°W / 45.40417; -75.71167Coordinates: 45°24′15″N 75°42′42″W / 45.40417°N 75.71167°W / 45.40417; -75.71167
Country  Canada
Province  Ontario
City Ottawa

Little Italy is a neighbourhood of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, situated in Centretown West and the cultural centre of Ottawa's Italian community. Bounded by Albert Street to the north, Carling Avenue to the south, the O-Train Trillium Line to the west, and approximately Bronson Avenue to the east, Little Italy intersects with Chinatown, whose business district centres on Somerset Street.

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.[1]

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.

Big change is coming to the south end of the neighborhood at the intersection of Preston and Carling in the form of condo towers. 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.

Cutlure

Preston Street is a major commercial street in Littly Italy, and is one of two roads given a commemorative Italian name.

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

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Neighbours". Our Little Italy. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
  • "Our Little Italy". Our Little Italy. Ottawa: Government of Canada, Canada's Digital Collections Initiative. Retrieved 2005-10-03.
  • "History of Ottawa's Little Italy". Il Postino. Archived from the original on 2005-12-19. Retrieved 2005-10-03.
  • "History". Ottawa's Little Italy - Preston Street. Retrieved 2005-10-03.
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