Christopher Gomez | Little Italy News
On Dec. 1, the Little Italy Association officially broke ground on our most ambitious community addition yet: Piazza Famiglia.
The new project, in partnership with H.G. Fenton Company, will transform West Date Street, between Columbia and India streets, into a 10,000-square-foot public piazza to serve the Little Italy community.
Mike Neal, H.G. Fenton president and CEO, led the groundbreaking ceremony, which took place at the corner of West Date and India streets. Featuring commencement words from Mayor Kevin Faulconer, then-Council President Todd Gloria and Little Italy Association Chief Executive Administrator, Marco Li Mandri, the ceremony was a symbolic milestone of Little Italy San Diego’s ever-evolving growth and its urban modernization.
The project itself was inspired by the grand piazzas of Italy and Europe and will feature classic Italian architectural details and design. The European-style piazza will include attractive landscaping with a grand water feature, inviting seating and other gathering areas.
Piazza Famiglia will become the new “heart” of Little Italy and a central community gathering space to host farmers markets, concerts and cultural events. It is scheduled to open in 2016.
The new piazza joins several other public spaces in Little Italy, including Piazza Basilone on West Fir and India streets. It will be dedicated to the families who banded together to create Little Italy decades ago; to today’s residents, who have helped to create the Little Italy we know and love today; and to the families that will set their roots in Little Italy in the future.
—Christopher Gomez has been Little Italy’s district manager for the past 15 years. Along with the Chief Executive Administrator Marco Li Mandri and the board members of the Little Italy Association, Chris has helped develop and maintain the community since 2000. Reach him at [email protected].
