Borsari's Corner is the named intersection of Lygon and Grattan streets, the symbolic crossroads of Italian Carlton. Nino Borsari — Olympic gold-medal track cyclist, 1932 — opened a bicycle shop on the corner in 1939 and the business stayed in the family for more than half a century. The shop has gone, but a clock and a plaque on the corner record the connection, and the intersection still anchors the historic Italian quarter.
It is the most photographed spot on Lygon Street outside the restaurant row. Use it as your orientation point: north for the historic Italian institutions, south for the newer wave of restaurants toward Queensberry Street, west into the university and east into the Carlton Gardens.