Маленькая Италия: История и современность итальянского квартала Нью-Йорка

Neighborhood in New York City

Little Italy (also ) is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City, known for its Italian population. It is bounded on the west by Tribeca and Soho, on the south by Chinatown, on the east by the Bowery and Lower East Side, and on the north by Nolita.

Little Italy used to extend as far south as Worth Street, as far north as Houston Street, as far west as Lafayette Street, and as far east as Bowery. It is now only five blocks on Mulberry Street north of Canal St. Little Italy originated at Mulberry Bend south of Canal, in what had formerly been the Five Points area but is now the heart of Chinatown. Jacob Riis described Mulberry Bend as "the foul core of New York's slums." During this time period "Immigrants of the late 19th century usually settled in ethnic neighborhoods". Therefore, the "mass immigration from Italy during the 1880s" 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". Italian immigrants from Naples settled on Mulberry Street, immigrants from Puglia and Calabria settled on Mott Street, immigrants from Sicily settled on Elizabeth Street, and immigrants from northern Italy, especially Genoa settled on Baxter Street. Bill Tonelli from New York magazine said, "Once, Little Italy was like an insular Neapolitan village re created on these shores, with its own language, customs, and financial and cultural institutions." In 2010, Little Italy and Chinatown were listed in a single historic district on the National Register of Historic Places. Little Italy, by this point, was shrinking rapidly.

Little Italy was home to dozens of restaurants that serve authentic Italian cuisine, but between March 2013 and March 2014, eight eateries closed down. Since 2004, Sorrento Lactalis funds neighborhood cultural events in Little Italy. The festival is an annual celebration of 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, Carnevale, Columbus Day, and Christmas events. until March 2023, when it closed its Little Italy location and announced a move to Lyndhurst, New Jersey.

Little Italy is the locale of the fictional Corleone family depicted in the novel The Godfather and the 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, and the Luc Besson film Léon: The Professional (1994), starring Jean Reno, Gary Oldman, and Natalie Portman. It is also depicted in the series finale of The Sopranos, titled "Made in America", where a character walks down a block and finds himself in Chinatown, demonstrating how Little Italy has shrunk.