Our monthly series of articles investigating the sites and activities of Boston, where the 2011 ICA Conference will take place, has thus far examined the South Boston Waterfront-the immediate neighborhood of the Conference-and the famous Back Bay neighborhood at the northwestern edge of the city. This month, we move almost due north of the Waterfront, to the North End, which lies at the confluence of the Charles River and Boston Harbor and is Boston's "Little Italy" neighborhood.

The city of Boston was founded on September 17, 1630, when the settlement of English Puritan emigrants decided to make a permanent home there; on that date, the entirety of the city was contained in the boundaries of what is now the North End. It has been continuously populated ever since.

However, who has populated that city-in terms of ethnic enclaves-has changed frequently. The original Puritan enclave gave way to wealthy, landed merchants, which in turn gave way to Irish immigrants at the dawn of the 19th century. By midcentury, the North End was a neighborhood of German Jews (and many of the buildings in the neighborhood still bear Hebrew signage); after the U.S. Civil War, a wave of former slaves created the city's first African American community; and after World War I, Italian immigrants filled the neighborhood. Indeed, the Italians dominated the North End like no other ethnicity had before them; by the 1930s, their population in the neighborhood tripled those of either the Jewish or Irish residents at their respective peaks-and stood at about 99.9 percent of its total population.

Today, while the trendiness of gentrification has started to creep into the neighborhood, its identity remains firmly Italian. The North End is home to over 100 Italian eateries. These are small, mom-and-pop establishments that serve authentic Genovese, Sicilian, Milanese, and Neapolitan cuisine. However, the area's complicated history, including beacons of its Puritan origins and of the American Revolution, still haunts its streets.

Unquestionably, the North End's main drag is Hanover Street, which runs from the harbor southward to Boston City Hall. In fact, Hanover Street has in recent years seen an enormous surge in activity that puts it nearly on par with Back Bay's Newbury Street as a center for tourism and nightlife. On the six blocks between Charter and Cross Streets, Hanover contains 26 Italian restaurants, cafes, gelaterias, and bakeries.

Of these, Mike's Pastries is perhaps the most legendary; it's a small bakery lined with wall-length shelves of cannolis, biscotti, torrone, cookies, pies, and other wonderful baked goods-and at almost any time of day, absolutely packed with customers. Next door is Caffe Vittoria; opened in 1929, it was the first Italian cafe in Boston. A few blocks away is Giacomo's, a beloved North End institution renowned for its lobster ravioli (though getting in requires waiting in a long line).

Aside from the cuisine, however, Hanover Street includes great shopping boutiques for books, wine, gifts, clothes, shoes, and for those so inclined, the well-known cigar shop Stanza Dei Sigari. Near the top of the street is a historic church: St. Stephen's, a Catholic sanctuary designed in 1804 by legendary American architect Charles Bulfinch (who also designed the U.S. Capitol, the Massachusetts State House, and Harvard's University Hall).

Hanover Street is North End's nerve center, but just about any of the cross streets and parallels to Hanover will unearth treasures that are unique to the neighborhood. Exploring these streets can be deceptive: Most, corresponding to their 17th-century origins, are very narrow, frequently one-way, and lined with very old and sometimes crumbling buildings. One (very long) block west of Hanover is Salem Street, bursting with popular culinary and commercial establishments like the celebrated Neptune Oyster, the no-frills diner Theo's Cozy Corner, and boutiques Shake the Tree and The Velvet Fly. But Salem is at heart a residential street, and a walk down its sidewalks reveals much more "neighborhood-y" establishments like corner grocery stores, nail salons, bars, and coffee shops. This is even more true of Prince Street, which intersects both Salem and Hanover; while there are plenty of cafes (Dino's), restaurants (G'vanni's), gift shops (PR), and consignment shops (Karma), the street is dominated by beautiful old townhouses from the Federal period, and Victorian-era apartment buildings that are flush with the sidewalks.

But Boston, like no other city in the United States, is thickly coated in its own history-and the country's. Walking down any of these streets one is likely to come across places and things that are immortalized in American literature and history books. On Salem Street, for example, is Old North Church: the legendary steeple from which lookouts signaled Boston patriot Paul Revere of approaching British soldiers before his "Midnight Ride" of 18 April 1775 (the One if by land, two if by sea inscribed in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem). Revere himself, a silversmith, lived several blocks away in a large Georgian house (which also served as his smithy and shop) on North Square. Built in the 1680s, the house still stands, restored to its original design after several centuries of modification, and is now the Paul Revere House museum. You can see the residence, garden, courtyard, and shop. Immediately adjacent is the Pierce-Hichborn House, a Georgian house that was owned by Revere's cousin and is one of the oldest brick structures in Boston.

On the Western side of the North End is one of the oldest cemeteries in the United States, the Copp's Hill Burial Ground. Dedicated in 1659, it contains the graves of many of the important Bostonians of the colonial era, including Reverend Cotton Mather (an architect of the notorious Salem Witch Trials) and his family and Robert Newman, one of Paul Revere's lookouts. There are also many unmarked graves, the resting place of the African-American slaves of the period.

Across Hull Street from the Burial Ground is one of the most peculiar of Boston's landmarks. The Skinny House, which proudly carries the banner of "narrowest house in Boston," is a four-story residence that is only 10.4 feet (3.16 meters) long at its widest point. According to legend it was built just after the Civil War when two feuding brothers, one of whom was at war, inherited a parcel of land on Hull Street; the non-enlisted one built a huge home that left minimal space on the property for his brother-but the returning soldier built a tiny home anyway, keeping his claim to the inheritance and ruining his brother's side view.

If you are planning an extended stay in Boston after the ICA Conference concludes on 30 May, the North End will be an exciting scene the following weekend. On 6 and 7 June, the Santa Maria Di Anzano Feast begins with a parade and outdoor festival on Hanover and Prince Streets. It is the first of a very busy season of street festivals throughout Boston's summer; the corridors of the North End will be filled with food and drink, music, and crafts. It's a fun way to celebrate this historic, but self-possessed and energetic Boston neighborhood.