Little Italy Toronto

- College Street, Markham St

Italians arrived to Toronto in large numbers in the early 20th century, mainly to work with railway and road construction. Little Italy may not look especially Italian, but it is bigger then the one in New York (that is surprisingly small). It is concentrated to a large portion of College Street, West of downtown, bordering Chinatown. There is also one additional Italian neighbourhood, Corso Italia, that is considered more authentic. We visited on a Sunday, and College St, normally trafficated by trams, was closed for traffic. Instead there was a market, and pedestrians strolling in the street. We found Italian pizza stands, pasta stands, somewhat neglect movie theaters (though the area itself is in a good shape), a few Italian restaurants, small churches, townhouses, but also many non Italian restaurants and businesses (latin, lebanese, portugese for example). Overall it is a very nice area, but considering the name we just wish there was more of an Italian touch there. There is an Italian Walk of Fame, a pavement with stars to famous people of Italian descent.