About the North End

Boston?s first neighborhood, the past and present meet every day in the North End. The streets are narrow and compact, and there is history ? Old North Church, Paul Revere?s house, burial grounds ? seemingly around every corner. The neighborhood is packed with restaurants, virtually all of them Italian, and the neighborhood is still deeply rooted in Italian culture. Residents hold annual festivals (also known as feasts) to honor patron saints of Italian villages. For decades, the Central Artery separated the North End from the rest of the city visually; now that the elevated highway has been torn down the difference is stunning.

The famous Mike's Pastry

How to fully enjoy your journey in the North End.

Welcome to Boston's North End, the city's oldest residential district where people have lived continuously since its settlement in the 1660s.  It is the birthplace of the Revolution, the center of Italian culture and cuisine, and one of the most colorful, vibrant urban neighborhoods in America.

Several ways abound for exploring and experiencing the North End. We recommend that you do it on foot.  Stroll down the narrow and winding streets, stop at a caffe for a cappuccino, listen to the buzz and hubbub all around you. This way you cannot help but immerse yourself fully in the many sights, sounds and aromas of European-American village life. If you want to know more about the history of the North End, you can read about it on our North End History page.

The North End offers several different group tour opportunities.  The Freedom Trail Tour covers much of the early Revolutionary historical sites.  Michele's Topor's North End Market Tour will introduce you to the many colorful Italian markets and shops of our "Little Italy." And if it's the hidden secrets of the North End that pique your interest, take our celebrated (and humorous) North End Secret Tour.  You'll visit over 40 unique sites where pivotal events shaped both the neighborhood and the life of the Nation - from Colonial times to the present day.

Dining in the North End

When it comes to North End dining, the choices are extraordinarily diverse - from traditional Italian-American family-style cooking to some of the most authentic, refined Italian food to be found anywhere in Boston and beyond. 

The North End is home to more than 87 restaurants - sandwich shops, pizzerias, carryout kitchens, cozy family-run dining rooms, and elegant restaurants, rosticceria and caffes.  Nor is all the food Italian: there is carryout Chinese, Thai cuisine, New England seafood, and good old, wholesome "American" food to be found in almost every corner of Boston's North End.

Still, the North End remains most known for it's Italian restaurants. Which leads us to attempt to correct one common misnomer: there is no such thing as "Italian cuisine".  Why?  Because all Italian cooking is regional cooking.  From the Abruzzi region on the Adriatic coast, to Puglia in the heel, Sicily and Napoli, to the northern regions of Piedmont and Lombardy: Italian cuisine - like Italian wine - takes it uniqueness from the earth, from the herbs, the crops, even the livestock - and most of all - from unique family cooking traditions stretching back over many centuries.

So, when you peruse the many restaurant web sites of our Founding Members, relish in the diversity of their menu offerings, the unique talents of each chef, and the many special culinary pleasures that our big "Little Italy" offers its many dining guests.