Have you been to Little Italy lately? Did you hang out in Piazza del Famiglia (the square) while eating an ice cream? Or maybe you grabbed a fancy cocktail at Kettner Exchange while listening to house music? Or maybe you stopped by Our Lady of the Rosary on the way to brunch? If you’re like me, I often leave Little Italy breathless and dazed. How did this old cornerstone of San Diego get so exciting in the last 20 years?

Little Italy can and should be the blueprint for development in San Diego. We’re starving for culture and activity. And if you’re like me, San Diego’s slow pace and charm has started to feel overwhelmed in the last decade. It feels unusually crowded. The housing market is insane.