A small peninsula jutting into the Boston Harbor, the North End is one of the city's oldest and most storied neighbourhoods. Puritans from England settled the area, followed by waves of other European immigrants whose red-brick homes still crowd the narrow, maze-like streets. By the early 20th Century, tens of thousands of Italian immigrants had transformed this 1-sq-km area into the city's "Little Italy" (although nobody calls it that!).

Today, the North End retains its multicultural atmosphere. The streets are lined with Italian restaurants and delis, and you can still overhear animated Italian conversations on the street. "It's the greatest inner-city Italian community in the United States," exclaimed resident Frank Depasquale. "It's one of a kind."