View source for Little Italy, Manhattan

{{Short description|Neighborhood in New York City, New York, United States}}
{{Distinguish|text=[[East Harlem#Italian Harlem|Italian Harlem]] in Uptown Manhattan}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
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 | subdivision_type4        = [[Community boards of Manhattan|Community District]]
 | subdivision_name4        = [[Manhattan Community Board 3|Manhattan 3]]<ref name="NYCPlanning">{{cite web |title=NYC Planning {{!}} Community Profiles | url = https://communityprofiles.planning.nyc.gov/manhattan/3 | website = communityprofiles.planning.nyc.gov|publisher=New York City Department of City Planning | access-date = March 18, 2019}}</ref>
 | module                   ={{Infobox NRHP
 | embed                    = yes
 | name                     = Chinatown and Little Italy Historic District
 | nrhp_type                = hd
 | refnum                   = 10000012
 | added                    = February 12, 2010
}}
}}
<!-- {{Ethnic New York City sidebar}} -->

'''Little Italy''' ({{langx|it|Piccola Italia}}) is a neighborhood in [[Lower Manhattan]] in [[New York City]], once known for its [[Italian American]] population.<ref name="lifeinitaly.com">{{Cite web|url=http://www.lifeinitaly.com/heritage/little-italy.asp|title=Little Italy &#124; Italy<!-- Bot generated title -->|date=5 July 2019 |website=lifeinitaly.com |access-date=Dec 8, 2020}}</ref> It is bounded on the west by [[Tribeca]] and [[SoHo, Manhattan|Soho]], on the south by [[Chinatown, Manhattan|Chinatown]], on the east by the [[Bowery]] and [[Lower East Side]], and on the north by [[Nolita]].

==History==
[[File:Mulberry Street NYC c1900 LOC 3g04637u edit.jpg|left|thumb|220x220px|Little Italy, [[Lower East Side]], {{Circa|1900}}]]
At its largest, Little Italy used to occupy a space in lower Manhattan bound by [[Lafayette Street]] to the west and [[Bowery]] to the east, [[Kenmare Street]] to the north and [[Worth Street]] to the south.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mather |first=Chris |title=When Little Italy Was Big |url=https://www.thirteen.org/program-content/when-little-italy-was-big/ |access-date=2025-04-19 |website=THIRTEEN - New York Public Media}}</ref> It is now only five blocks on [[Mulberry Street (Manhattan)|Mulberry Street]] north of Canal St.<ref name="nypost.com">{{cite news| url=https://nypost.com/2014/03/30/changing-times-pushing-little-italy-to-brink-of-extinction/ | work=New York Post | first=Kate | last=Briquelet | title=Little Italy is on the brink of extinction | date=March 30, 2014}}</ref> Little Italy originated at Mulberry Bend south of Canal, in what had formerly been the [[Five Points, Manhattan|Five Points]] area but is now the heart of Chinatown. [[Jacob Riis]] described Mulberry Bend as "the foul core of New York's slums".<ref name=Tonelli1>Tonelli, Bill (September 27, 2004). "Arrivederci, Little Italy". ''[[New York (magazine)|New York]]''. p. [http://nymag.com/nymetro/urban/features/9904/ 1]. Retrieved on April 10, 2013.</ref> During this time period "Immigrants of the late 19th century usually settled in ethnic neighborhoods".<ref>{{Cite book |title=[[The Encyclopedia of New York City]] |editor-last=Jackson |editor-first=Kenneth T. |editor-link=Kenneth T. Jackson |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2010 |edition=Second}}</ref> Therefore, the "mass immigration from Italy during the 1880s"<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Multicultural America: A Multimedia Encyclopedia|last=Pretelli|first=Matteo|publisher=SAGE Reference|year=2014|location=Thousand Oaks, CA|pages=1362–1363}}</ref> led to the large settlement of Italian immigrants in lower Manhattan. The results of such migration had created an "influx of Italian immigrants" which had "led to the commercial gathering of their dwelling and business".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Immigration and Migration in the American West|last=Henderson|first=Matthew Adam|publisher=SAGE Reference|year=2006|pages=411–413}}</ref>

Bill Tonelli from ''[[New York (magazine)|New York]]'' magazine said, "Once, Little Italy was like an insular [[Naples|Neapolitan]] village re-created on these shores, with its own language, customs, and financial and cultural institutions."<ref name=Tonelli1/> Little Italy was not the largest Italian neighborhood in New York City, as [[East Harlem]] (or [[Italian Harlem]]) had a larger Italian population. Tonelli said that Little Italy "was perhaps the city's poorest Italian neighborhood".<ref name=Tonelli1/>

In 1910 Little Italy had almost 10,000 Italians; that was the peak of the community's Italian population. At the turn of the 20th century, over 90% of the residents of the Fourteenth Ward were of Italian birth or origins.<ref name=Tonelli1/> Tonelli said that it meant "that residents began moving out to more spacious digs almost as soon as they arrived".<ref name=Tonelli1/> Such a vastly growing community impacted the "U.S. labor movement in the 20th century" by making up much of the labor population in the garment industry.<ref name=":0" />

After [[World War II]], many residents of the [[Lower East Side]] began moving to [[Brooklyn]], [[Staten Island]], eastern [[Long Island]], [[Westchester, New York|Westchester]] and [[New Jersey]]. Chinese immigrants became an increased presence after the [[U.S. Immigration Act of 1965]] removed immigration restrictions, and the [[Chinatown, Manhattan|Manhattan Chinatown]] to Little Italy's south expanded. In 2004, Tonelli said, "You can go back 30 years and find newspaper clips chronicling the expansion of Chinatown and mourning the loss of Little Italy."<ref name=Tonelli1/>

Before 2004, several upscale businesses entered the northern portion of the area between Houston and Kenmare Street. Tonelli said, "Real-estate prices zoomed, making it even tougher for the old-timers—residents and businesspeople alike—to hang on."<ref name=Tonelli1/> After the [[September 11 attacks]] in 2001, areas below Houston Street were cut off for the rest of the fall of 2001. The [[San Gennaro feast]], scheduled for September 13, was postponed. Business from the [[Financial District, Manhattan|Financial District]] dropped severely, due to the closure of [[Park Row (Manhattan)|Park Row]], which connected Chinatown and the [[Civic Center, Manhattan|Civic Center]]; as a result, residents in Little Italy and Chinatown suffered. Tonelli said the post-9/11 events "strangely enough, ended up motivating all these newfangled efforts to save what's left of the old neighborhood".<ref name=Tonelli1/>

[[File:Little Italy, New York-L1002082.jpg|thumb|250px|Mulberry Street, Little Italy, in 2023]]
In 2004 Tonelli said, "Today, Little Italy is a veneer—50 or so restaurants and cafés catering to tourists, covering a dense neighborhood of tenements shared by recent Chinese immigrants, young Americans who can't afford [[SoHo, Manhattan|Soho]]<!--Don't change! It's a quote-->, and a few remaining real live Italians."<ref name=Tonelli1/> This sentiment has also been echoed by Italian culture and heritage website ''ItalianAware''. The site has called the dominance of Italians in the area "relatively short-lived". It attributes this to the quick financial prosperity many Italians achieved, which allowed them to leave the cramped neighborhood for areas in Brooklyn and Queens. The site also goes on to state that the area is currently referred to as Little Italy more out of nostalgia than as a reflection of a true ethnic population.<ref name=ItalianAware>{{cite web|title=Littl-er Italy in NYC|url=http://italianaware.blogspot.com/2011/02/littler-italy-in-new-york.html|publisher=ItalianAware|access-date=18 March 2014}}</ref>

In 2010, Little Italy and [[Chinatown, Manhattan|Chinatown]] were listed in a single [[historic district (United States)|historic district]] on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="NRHP listing">{{cite web|title=National Register of Historic Places listings for February 19, 2010|url=https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalregister/upload/weekly-list-2010-national-register-of-historic-places.pdf|publisher=[[National Park Service]]|date=February 19, 2010|access-date=February 19, 2010}}</ref> Little Italy, by this point, was shrinking rapidly.<ref name="nypost.com"/>

Foods and traditions that were invented in Little Italy include [[sausage and peppers]] and the [[rainbow cookie]].{{Citation needed|date=January 2024}} In addition, the Italian-American Christmas Eve tradition of the [[Feast of the Seven Fishes]] originated in Little Italy back in the late 1800s.<ref>Larsen, Alexis. [https://www.newspapers.com/article/dayton-daily-news-little-italy-and-the-f/137962079/ "Local seafood dishes to make a classic Italian feast"], ''[[Dayton Daily News]]'', December 22, 2019. Accessed January 3, 2024, via [[Newspapers.com]]. "If you have never heard of the Feast of the Seven Fishes (Festa dei Sette Pesci), it’s an Italian-Amer- ican Christmas Eve cele- bration steeped in history. Thought to have been introduced in the United States in the late 1800s by southern Italian immigrants in New York City’s Little Italy, it’s a incredible feast inspired by the flavors of the sea."</ref>

{{clear left}}

=={{anchor|Demographics}} Demographic changes==
[[File:Littleitaly worldcup.JPG|thumb|250px|People in Little Italy celebrating after the [[Italy national football team|Italian football team]] won the [[2006 FIFA World Cup]]]]
''[[The New York Times]]'' sent its reporters to characterize the Little Italy/Mulberry neighborhood in May 1896:

<blockquote>They are laborers; toilers in all grades of manual work; they are artisans, they are junkman, and here, too, dwell the rag pickers. ... There is a monster colony of Italians who might be termed the commercial or shop keeping community of the Latins. Here are all sorts of stores, pensions, groceries, fruit emporiums, tailors, shoemakers, wine merchants, importers, musical instrument makers. ... There are notaries, lawyers, doctors, apothecaries, undertakers. ... There are more bankers among the Italians than among any other foreigners except the Germans in the city.<ref>Staff (May 31, 1896) "Little Italy in New-York" ''[[The New York Times]]'' p.32</ref></blockquote>

Since the late 1960s, when the United States allowed immigration from China, Chinatown's traditional boundary at Canal Street has inched northward into Little Italy. By the 1990s, while many Italian business remained, the blocks between [[Canal Street (Manhattan)|Canal]] and [[Kenmare Street]]s had taken on a feel of Chinatown, though locals continue to refer to the area (including Nolita) as Little Italy.<ref>Cohen, Joyce. [https://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/17/realestate/if-you-re-thinking-of-living-in-nolita-a-slice-of-little-italy-moving-upscale.html If You're Thinking of Living In/Nolita; A Slice of Little Italy Moving Upscale], ''The New York Times'', May 17, 1998.</ref>

As of the [[2000 United States census|2000 census]], 1,211 residents claiming Italian ancestry lived in three census tracts that make up Little Italy. Those residents comprise 8.25% of the population in the community, which is similar to the proportion of those of Italian ancestry throughout New York City. <!--Used as a comparison in the New Yorker article-->Bill Tonelli of ''[[New York (magazine)|New York]]'' magazine contrasted Little Italy with the [[Chinatown, Manhattan|Manhattan Chinatown]]; in 2000, of the residents of the portions of Chinatown south of Grand Street, 81% were of Chinese origins.<ref name="Tonelli1"/>

In 2004, Tonelli revisited the issue, saying, "Little Italy may always endure as an open-air theme park of nineteenth- and twentieth-century European immigration to the [[Lower East Side]] ... But you'll spend a long time in the neighborhood before you hear anyone speak Italian, and then the speaker will be a tourist from [[Milan]]."<ref name=Tonelli2>Tonelli, Bill. [http://nymag.com/nymetro/urban/features/9904/index1.html "Arrivederci, Little Italy."], ''[[New York (magazine)|New York]]''. September 27, 2004. Retrieved on April 10, 2013.</ref> Tonelli added, "You have to slow your gaze to find the neighbors in this neighborhood, because they're so overwhelmed and outnumbered by the tourists. But once you focus, you can see them, standing (or sitting) in the interstices, taking in the scene, like the group of men, mostly senior citizens, loitering contentedly under an awning on Mulberry Street."<ref name=Tonelli2/>

By 2010 the U.S. Community Survey found that none of the people living in Little Italy were born in Italy, and 5% of residents identified as Italian American.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/nyregion/22littleitaly.html?_r=1|title=New York's Little Italy, Littler by the Year|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=2011-02-22|access-date=2021-03-24}}</ref>

==Cultural attractions==
[[File:Little Italy.JPG|thumb|250px|[[Mulberry Street (Manhattan)|Mulberry Street]] in Little Italy]]
Little Italy was home to dozens of restaurants that serve authentic Italian cuisine, but between March 2013 and March 2014, eight eateries closed down.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ny.eater.com/2014/3/30/6252779/rent-hikes-forcing-little-italy-restaurants-to-close|title=Rent Hikes Forcing Little Italy Restaurants to Close|first=Layla|last=Khabiri|date=Mar 30, 2014|website=Eater NY|access-date=Dec 8, 2020}}</ref>

Since 2004, [[Sorrento Lactalis]] funds neighborhood cultural events in Little Italy.<ref name=Tonelli1/>

The Feast of San Gennaro originally was once only a one-day religious commemoration. It began in September 1926 with the new arrival of immigrants from Naples. The Italian immigrants congregated along Mulberry Street in Manhattan's ''Little Italy'' to celebrate [[San Gennaro]] as the Patron Saint of [[Naples]]. The ''Feast of San Gennaro'' is a large street fair, lasting 11 days, that takes place every September along Mulberry Street between Houston and Canal Streets.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.italian-link.com/pages/littleitalynewyork.shtml|title=Little Italy New York City|website=www.italian-link.com|access-date=Dec 8, 2020}}</ref>

The festival is an annual celebration of [[Culture of Italy|Italian culture]] and the [[Italian-American]] community. In 1995, Mort Berkowitz became the professional manager of a community group that had been formed to take over management of the San Gennaro feast. Since then, Berkowitz became involved in other recreational activities in Little Italy, including the summer, [[Carnival|Carnevale]], [[Columbus Day]], and [[Christmas]] events.<ref name=Tonelli1/>

Richard Alba, a sociologist and professor at [[University at Albany, SUNY]], said, "The fascinating part here is the way in which ethnic tourism—not only by [[Italian Americans]] but by people who want to see an authentic urban village—keeps these neighborhoods going."<ref name=Tonelli2/>

Little Italy was also home to [[Alleva Dairy]], the oldest cheese shop in the United States. The store was founded in 1892 and was located on [[Grand Street (Manhattan)|Grand Street]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://abc7ny.com/alleva-dairy-little-italy-covid-cheese-shop/11739135/ | title=Historic cheese shop in Little Italy needs 'help' to survive the COVID pandemic | date=12 April 2022 }}</ref> until March 2023, when it closed its Little Italy location and announced a move to [[Lyndhurst, New Jersey]].<ref>[https://abc7ny.com/alleva-diary-closing-cheese-shop-little-italy/12899000/ "Little Italy cheese shop Alleva Dairy closes its doors after 130 years; announces New Jersey store"], ''[[WABC-TV]]'', March 1, 2023. Accessed January 3, 2024. "Another iconic New York City business is shuttering following financial woes but has announced plans for a new location. Alleva Dairy in Little Italy is closing after 130 years of business at 6 p.m. Wednesday.... Thanks to the vision, generosity and commitment of businessman and developer, Jack Morris, President and CEO, of Edgewood Properties, Alleva Dairy will be opening a 3700-square-foot store at 9 Polito Avenue in Lyndhurst, N.J."</ref>

==Organized crime and the Mafia==
Little Italy residents have seen organized crime since the early 20th century. Powerful members of the [[Italian-American Mafia|Italian Mafia]] have operated in ''Little Italy''.
* [[Ignazio Saietta|Ignazio "The Wolf" Lupo]] (a [[Morello crime family]] boss operated in Little Italy from late 1890s-1920s)
* [[Paul Kelly (criminal)|Paolo Antonio "Paul Kelly" Vaccarelli]] (founder of the [[Five Points Gang]], who operated in Little Italy in the early twentieth century)<ref>{{cite book| last = Dickie| first = John| title = Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia| date = 31 March 2015| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_W6WBgAAQBAJ&q=paul+kelly+little+italy&pg=PA170| publisher=St. Martin's Press| location = New York| pages = 170| isbn = 9781466893054}}</ref>
* [[Michele Miranda|Michele "Big Mike" Miranda]] (a [[Caporegime|Capo]] in the [[Genovese crime family]] operated in the neighborhood from the 1950s into the late 1960s)
* [[Peter DeFeo]] (a ''Genovese crime family'' capo who operated an illegal ''Italian lottery'' in the 1960s into the 1970s)
* [[Matthew Ianniello|Matthew "Matty the Horse" Ianniello]], a ''Genovese crime family'' capo operated from his restaurant ''[[Umberto's Clam House]]'' in the 1970s<ref>McShane, Larry via [[Associated Press]]. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/04/AR2007030400559_pf.html "Matty 'The Horse' on His Last Ride"], ''[[The Washington Post]]'', March 4, 2007. Accessed December 23, 2017.</ref><ref>Vitello, Paul. [https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/23/nyregion/mafia-boss-matty-the-horse-ianniello-dies-at-92.html "Matthew Ianniello, the Mafia Boss Known as ‘Matty the Horse,’ Dies at 92"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', August 22, 2012. Accessed December 23, 2017. "His stake in one restaurant, Umberto's Clam House, in Little Italy, placed him at the scene of an infamous and legendary gangland murder on April 7, 1972, when the reputed [[Colombo crime family]] [[underboss]] Joey Gallo was riddled with bullets between courses of a late-night meal by four gunmen, in an intrafamily gang war. Mr. Ianniello, who then owned a hidden interest in Umberto's, was working in the kitchen at the time and was initially suspected of having some involvement in the hit. But he was never charged."</ref>
* [[John Gotti]], boss of the [[Gambino crime family]] operated from the [[Ravenite Social Club]] in the late 1980s into the early 1990s<ref>[[Selwyn Raab|Rabb, Selwyn]]. [https://www.nytimes.com/1989/04/02/magazine/john-gotti-running-the-mob.html "John Gotti Running The Mob"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', April 2, 1989. Accessed December 23, 2017. "On Christmas Eve, a week after the double slaying, detectives concealed in a van in Little Italy witnessed a striking scene outside the Ravenite Social Club, Dellacroce's old headquarters, that confirmed what investigators had heard from informers: John Gotti was the new boss of the Gambino family."</ref>

==Notable people==
* [[Robert De Niro]], actor and film producer
* [[Gianni Russo]], actor and singer<ref name="Russo to pay homage to Sinatra and Martin">[https://www.silive.com/entertainment/music/2012/03/staten_islands_gianni_russo_to.html Staten Island's Gianni Russo to pay homage to Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin at Lorenzo's Cabaret] ''[[Staten Island Advance]]'' (March 1, 2012) {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230206211156/https://www.silive.com/entertainment/music/2012/03/staten_islands_gianni_russo_to.html |date=February 6, 2023 }}</ref>
* [[Catherine Scorsese]], actress
* [[Charles Scorsese]], actor
* [[Martin Scorsese]], filmmaker

==In popular culture==
Little Italy is the locale of the fictional [[Corleone family]] depicted in the novel ''[[The Godfather (novel)|The Godfather]]'' and the [[The Godfather (film series)|film trilogy]] based on it. It is also the setting for the [[Martin Scorsese]] film ''[[Mean Streets]]'' (1973), starring [[Harvey Keitel]] and [[Robert De Niro]], the latter of whom also grew up in the neighborhood,<ref>Wong, Edward. [https://www.nytimes.com/2000/07/16/nyregion/little-italy-journal-reliving-mean-streets-in-open-air-screenings.html "Little Italy Journal; Reliving 'Mean Streets' In Open-Air Screenings"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', July 16, 2000. Accessed July 30, 2016. "For a taste of the old neighborhood, he had to walk over to the playground at Spring and Mulberry Streets to watch films like ''Mean Streets,'' the 1973 Martin Scorsese opus in which Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro play small-time wiseguys in Little Italy."</ref> and the [[Luc Besson]] film ''[[Léon: The Professional]]'' (1994), starring [[Jean Reno]], [[Gary Oldman]], and [[Natalie Portman]].<ref>Breihan, Tom. [https://theconcourse.deadspin.com/the-professional-is-deeply-problematic-profoundly-cool-1702737080 "''The Professional'' Is Deeply Problematic, Profoundly Cool, And Very '90s"], ''[[Deadspin]]'', May 15, 2015. Accessed December 23, 2017. "The movie opens with a camera flying over Central Park, turning into a fisheye zoom-in on the Little Italy restaurant where Reno gets his contracts. When he's on a job, Reno's face emerges from shadows, then disappears again when he's made his point."</ref> It is also depicted in the series finale of ''[[The Sopranos]]'', titled "[[Made in America (The Sopranos)|Made in America]]", where a character walks down a block and finds himself in Chinatown, demonstrating how Little Italy has shrunk.<ref>Staley, Willy. [https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/29/magazine/sopranos.html "Why Is Every Young Person in America Watching ''The Sopranos''?"], ''[[The New York Times Magazine]]'', September 29, 2021. Accessed December 1, 2022. "Italian American neighborhoods have emptied out — as Jacobs writes, 'radically diminishing the pool of tough teenagers with Cosa Nostra potential'; this is dramatized brilliantly in the final episode of the series, when a mobster from a New York family hurries through Little Italy on an important phone call and, when the call ends, looks around to see he's wandered into an encroaching and vibrant Chinatown."</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|New York City}}
* [[Feast of San Gennaro]], a religious commemoration
* [[List of Italian-American neighborhoods]]
* [[Little Italy|List of Little Italy neighborhoods around the world]]
* [[Little Australia]]

Other Italian American neighborhoods in New York City:
* In Manhattan - East Harlem ([[Italian Harlem]], [[Pleasant Avenue]]), [[Greenwich Village]], and [[Nolita]]
* In the Bronx - [[Fordham, Bronx|Fordham]] ([[Arthur Avenue]]), [[Belmont, Bronx|Belmont]],  [[Morris Park, Bronx|Morris Park]], [[Country Club, Bronx|Country Club]], and [[Pelham Bay, Bronx|Pelham Bay]]
* In Brooklyn - [[Bensonhurst, Brooklyn|Bensonhurst]], [[Bay Ridge]], [[Dyker Heights, Brooklyn|Dyker Heights]], [[Bath Beach, Brooklyn|Bath Beach]], [[Gravesend, Brooklyn|Gravesend]], [[South Brooklyn]] (especially [[Carroll Gardens]]), [[East Williamsburg, Brooklyn|East Williamsburg]] and other neighborhoods
* In Queens - [[Howard Beach, Queens|Howard Beach]], [[Ozone Park, Queens|Ozone Park]], [[Middle Village, Queens|Middle Village]], [[Astoria, Queens|Astoria]], and other neighborhoods
* In Staten Island - [[Rosebank, Staten Island|Rosebank]] and other neighborhoods

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [http://www.thing.net/~lina/littleitaly.html Little Italy Neighbors Association]
* [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/09/nyregion/little-italy-mom-and-pop-shop.html Historic Little Italy's oldest gift shop is E. Rossi & Company (since 1910)]

{{Restaurants in the City of New York}}
{{Manhattan}}
{{National Register of Historic Places in Manhattan}}
{{Little Italy}}
{{Ethnicity in New York City}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Ethnic enclaves in New York (state)]]
[[Category:Italian-American culture in New York City]]
[[Category:Lower Manhattan]]
[[Category:Little Italys in the United States|Manhattan]]
[[Category:Neighborhoods in Manhattan]]
[[Category:Restaurant districts and streets in the United States]]
[[Category:Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Manhattan]]
[[Category:Sicilian-American culture]]
[[Category:Italian-American history]]
[[Category:Little Italys in New York (state)]]