Little Italy is the waterfront neighbourhood north of downtown that has reinvented itself from a faded tuna fishing community into San Diego's most urbanly complete district. India Street is the main commercial strip, with enough good restaurants concentrated in a few blocks to justify multiple visits. The Saturday morning Mercato farmers' market — one of the best in Southern California — fills several blocks with produce, fish, and prepared food vendors from early morning until early afternoon.
The neighbourhood retains a few links to its past. The Porto Vista Hotel was once a fishermen's boarding house. The Church of the Immaculate Conception anchors the southern end. But the Italian fishing families who built the neighbourhood are mostly gone; what remains is the bones — tight blocks, walkable streets, a human scale that downtown San Diego lacks everywhere else.
The Piazza della Famiglia on Kettner Boulevard is a gathering square with a bocce ball court. The western edge of the neighbourhood backs onto the harbour, with views of the bay and the aircraft carriers docked at the naval station on North Island.