Boston's spirited Italian community began as the city attracted a steady stream of Italian immigrants in the late 1860s. By 1876, the population grew large enough for them to establish their own Italian Catholic Church, St. Leonard's, which still stands today on Hanover Street. The population stood at around 1,200 people in 1880, growing to over 25,000 by 1905.

Primarily emigrating from southern Italy and Sicily, most Italians moved into the concentrated North End community. The city's demographics have changed considerably since 1905, but even today the Italian American culture remains in the North End's restaurants and businesses, and the majority of foreign born residents currently living in the neighborhood are Italian.