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North End

Your nose knows when you've entered Boston's "Little Italy." A garlic aroma hovers in some North End streets, thanks to the conglomeration of Italian restaurants. And on a hot day, you can still smell a sweet aroma left over from the Great Molasses Flood of 1919, when a silo of molasses exploded.

Italians arrived in the 1880s, the last of wave of European immigrants, and they maintain the distinct cultural flavor here. The North End's Mediterranean charm is evidenced by pastry shops, espresso bars, butcher shops, winding alleys, and street festivals. The neighborhood's historical significance also extends to the American Revolution era, when patriots like Paul Revere and John Hancock conspired in local taverns and homes.

As this safe neighborhood slowly modernizes, prices on family homes climb. Restaurants and stylish condos and apartments along the harbor constitute the Waterfront, an elegant and exclusive sub-neighborhood. Bounding the North End are Commercial Street to the north and east, and Central Artery to the south and west.