Little Italy, Historic Italian neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, United States

Little Italy is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan stretching between Canal and Houston streets, defined by Italian restaurants, cafes, bakeries, and specialty food shops. Mulberry Street and Mott Street form the core of the district, where you find traditional Italian goods and dining options throughout.

Little Italy began at Mulberry Bend, south of Canal Street, in what had been the Five Points area and is now the heart of Chinatown; Jacob Riis called Mulberry Bend "the foul core of New York's slums". Mass immigration from Italy in the 1880s drew Campanians to Mulberry Street, Sicilians to Elizabeth Street, and Calabrians and Apulians to Mott Street. By 1910 nearly 10,000 Italians lived here, the community's peak.

The Feast of San Gennaro takes place each September on Mulberry Street, the strip between Broome and Canal Streets where Italian shops and restaurants still line up. The 2001 feast, scheduled for September 13, was postponed after the September 11 attacks, when streets below Houston Street were closed for the rest of that fall.

The area is easily reached via the Canal Street subway station, which connects multiple train lines for convenient access. Most restaurants and shops cluster along Mulberry Street and Mott Street, making it straightforward to explore on foot.

The Feast of San Gennaro began in 1926 when immigrants from Naples on Mulberry Street held a one-day religious observance; it now runs for eleven days each September. The festival was postponed after the September 11 attacks in 2001, when streets below Houston Street were closed for the rest of that fall.