As you walk down Hanover St. in Boston, the smells of just-baked focaccia meld with freshly pulled shots of espresso. Outside Mike's Pastry, there's a line of cannoli-craving people reminiscent of Schwartz's. And friends outside Italian restaurant The Daily Catch greet each other with buongiorno instead of hello.

Boston's North End is the city's oldest neighbourhood, but it's come a long way from its 17th-century Puritan roots. By the late 1800s, the North Square area was already known as Little Italy. And even after years of gentrification, the neighbourhood is still predominantly Italian.

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Source: http://montrealgazette.com