Dining in Ottawa’s Little Italy

If you want to talk food, than you have to talk about one of downtown Ottawa’s most important neighbourhoods, Little Italy.

Ottawa’s Little Italy was originally an Irish neighbourhood housing employees of nearby lumberyards before an influx of Italian immigration at the turn of the century. By 1908, the Italian community around Division (now Booth) Street was firmly established, with the building of St. Anthony’s Church in 1913 and the forming of the local chapter of the Sons of Italy. A second wave of Italian immigration came after WWII, and turned the area between Booth and Preston Street from Carling Avenue north into Ottawa’s unofficial official “Little Italy,” featuring fine restaurants, street parties, and other activities (World Cup Soccer in Little Italy is a must).

The City of Ottawa officially recognized the community in 1983 by designating Preston Street Corso Italia and Gladstone Avenue as Via Marconi. Their website lists local businesses, including restaurants, night life, services and entertainment, as well as information on the annual Ferrari Festival, Italian Week Settimana Italiana, and La Vendemmia - Ottawa’s Celebration of Italian Wine & Food in September. 

The Birthplace of the Stanley Cup

It’s appropriate that the Stanley Cup, the ultimate trophy awarded for our “national game,” originated in the nation’s capital. In 1892, at a dinner of the Ottawa Amateur Athletic Association, Lord Kilcoursie, a player on the Ottawa Rebels hockey club, delivered a message on behalf of Lord Frederick Stanley, Governor General of Canada, announcing the awarding of a trophy to the best team in Canadian hockey. (Unfortunately, since Lord Stanley returned to his native England in the midst of the 1893 season, he never witnessed a championship game nor attended a presentation of the trophy.) There’s a plaque in front of a laundromat at Gladstone Avenue and Percy Streets, the former site of Patinoire Dey’s Skating Rink, where one of the first games for the cup was played, and where the Ottawa Senators (popularly known as “the silver seven”) defeated the Montreal Victorias on March 10, 1903 to give Ottawa its first Cup title. Today, the Stanley Cup is the oldest trophy that can be won by a professional sports team in North America.