Boston’s North End/Little Italy neighbor is famous for its delicious food as well as its

colorful history and we at Free Tours By Foot Boston have put together a quick, self

-guided walking tour of North End/Little Italy and some of its most interesting sites.

Save money in Boston with a tourist discount pass as well as our full list of self guided

Boston walking tours.

Click here for a larger interactive map.

Entering the Northend/Little Italy Neighborhood from

Salem St. the first site you will see on the corner of Salem

St. and Cross St. (50 Salem St.) is an Irish Pub (yes an

Irish pub on the edge of Little Italy) called Goodie

Glover’s. Named for Good Wife Ann Glover, who was an

Irish slave captured by Oliver Cromwell and shipped off to

Barbados during the occupation of Ireland in the 1650s. In

1680, she came to Boston and was employed as a housekeeper by John Goodwin. In the

summer of 1688, four out of the five Goodwin children became sick. The doctor

concluded “nothing but a hellish witchcraft was at the origin of these maladies.” The

diagnosis was confirmed by one of her charges, 13yr.-old Martha Goodwin, by claiming

she fell ill right after an argument with Ann. Accused by the Rev. Cotton Mather (pastor

of the Old North Church) in 1688 of being a witch, she was the last woman hanged in

Boston for the “crime” of witchcraft.

On November 16, 1988, the Boston City Council

recognized Ann Glover and the injustice done to

here and proclaimed Nov. 16, as Goody Glover Day.

As you travel down Salem St., stop in at

Ernesto’s Pizza at 69 Salem St. Opened in 1984,

they make huge slices with homemade dough and

sauce made on site. To save both money and space

in your belly, you can ask them to cut the slice in two.

Traveling down Salem St. you will come to the corner

of Parmenter St. and Salem St. At 105 Salem St. is

Polcaris Coffee, an old school Italian Market that

has been in business since 1932 offering dozens

varieties of coffee beans as well as spices, Italian Ice

and other treats. Walking into this market is like

stepping out of a time machine to the 1930's. Not

much has changed in here. Worth popping in and the

staff there are the best.

Across the street from Polcari’s at 100 Salem St. you will see

the New Spin Laundry. The New Spin Laundry was used

as the bank that was robbed by Ben Afflect’s character Doug

MacRay in the Movie “The Town.” It never was a bank, but

looks like it could have been at one time.

Travel down Parmenter St. step into Coconuts at 28

Parmenter St. This chocolate shop is one of the newer

businesses in the neighborhood and has artisan chocolates,

gourmet nut mixes and other chocolate treats.

Follow Parmenter St (a short walk) to the other main street of

Little Italy, Hanover

Street. There is where

you will find Galleria

Umberto’s, 289

Hanover St. This is a

little hole in the wall

place that you could

easily walk past and

not notice. If you like

pizza (and who

doesn’t), you must go

inside. The thick slice

Sicilian pizza at

Umberto’s is what this

place is known for.

Also, they only make a

certain amount of pizzas every day and once they sell out they close their doors for the

day. They are usually closed by 2:30 pm. Definitely one of Boston’s best pizza places. Try

and get there before lunch-time as the line can be quite long at 12:00 pm and 1:00 pm

and the service is a little slow. A must try if you are looking for Great Pizza. Note: They

are closed for the entire month of July.

After leaving Umberto look across Hanover St. and

you will see the famous Mike’s Pastry at 300

Hanover. Known for their multi-flavors of cannoli,

they are good stop for dessert. The Boston Cream

Pie (the official dessert of Massachusetts) is

wicked good.

Take your baked goods to go and walk down Hanover St. (about a block) to Paul

Revere Statue/Paul Revere Mall (The Prado).

There you will see the famous Paul Revere Statue and

you can sit in the Prado and enjoy your baked goods in

the shadow your next stop the Old North Church. On

the way to the Prado you will walk by the First Roman

Catholic Church in Boston, that was built by Italian

immigrants (1873).

The Old North Church, the oldest Church building

Boston (1723) is officially known as Christ Church.

Made famous for Paul Revere’s “Midnight Ride’ where

on April 18, 1775, 23 yr.-old, Robert Newell hang two

lanterns from the steeple of the Old North Church as a warning that British Soldiers

were heading by sea (the Charles River) to Lexington and Concord to arrest John

Hancock and Samuel Adams who were hiding in Lexington, and to confiscate a store of

arms in Concord. The lantern warning and Paul Revere’s famous ride set the stage for

the Battle of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775 “the shot heard round the world.”

The church is free to enter (a small donation is appreciated) and they have a great staff

that will explain the events of that night of April 18th, 1775.

After you exit the Old North Church, walk up Hull St. to

one of our favorite sites in the Boston, the Skinny

House. At 44 Hull St. this is Boston’s skinniest house.

Built shortly after the Civil War it was built as a spite

house. It was built by Joseph Eustus, a boat-builder on

land left to the family by their dad. While one Joe was

away, the other family members built a few large houses

on the inherited property leaving the returning brother

Joe only a sliver of land where he built the skinny house.

The house was built to not only block sunlight but ruin the

other family member’s view of the Boston Harbor (spite!).

It available today for vacation rentals.

The best way to view the Skinny House is from the stairs of

Copps’ Hill Burial Ground (1632) Boston’s second

oldest burial ground. There you can visit the graves of the

famous puritan ministers Cotton and Increase Mather,

Shem Drowne (who made the grasshopper weather-vain

on top of Faneuil Hall and the Old North Church), Robert

Newman, Prince Hahl to name just a few.