Our Save the Nazzaro movement has caught the attention of an MIT urban studies student from Italy, and also of a team of students from St. Mary’s College, London, who will be traveling here to visit us in April if the Coronavirus plague doesn’t get too bad. We obtained this fascinating NorthEnd_1919 study thanks to Carmelo Ignaccolo, the MIT student, who hails from Sicily. He is interested in our grass roots movement as a valuable example of  “social capital” in a dynamic American city. The 1919 study shows we came close to having a huge avenue cut through our densely settled neighborhood, but it was never developed.

We are grateful that these international scholars recognize our efforts as a sign of civic health in Boston’s North End, particularly since our movement cuts across some daunting cultural divides. We include not only long-time Italian immigrant families, but also young professionals and students, and “empty nesters” who retired here.  This mixture is the “new” North End, which appreciates the “old” North End’s culture and history.

We are all working together to keep the traditional low-rise brick architecture here, even as Boston sprouts enormous glass and steel skyscrapers all around us. The Nazzaro building is a superb example of  vernacular Italian-style architecture. We hope that when the Landmarks Commission completes its work on our application, the Mayor and other city officials will sign it into law.

Meanwhile, the plan for the North End Waterfront Health Center to take over the Nazzaro building from the city, to establish a senior wellness center there, has gained momentum. Jim Luisi, CEO of NEW Health, wrote an editorial in the Post-Gazette approving of the Mayor’s proposal. (Scroll down to page 3)