Little Italy in Chicago will always be found along the surviving colorful red, white and green storefronts on Taylor Street on the Near Southwest Side of Chicago. While the neighborhood is now often known as University Village, the Italian-born immigrants who once lived there should not be forgotten. Nor should the other Little Italys around the city: Grand Avenue, Heart of Italy and Little Sicily. There were once more than 20 Italian neighborhoods around the city, say city historians.

But after World War II, Italian immigrant families began moving to Northwest Side neighborhoods and suburbs, and opening markets and restaurants there. In the 1970s and '80s, the pace picked up because of University of Illinois at Chicago construction that encroached on Little Italy.