Italian Community in Birmingham

Where they come from

Italy stretches from the Alps into the Mediterranean and is famous for its art, history, fashion and food. Italian families settled in Birmingham from the late 19th century, many around Digbeth and Duddeston in an area remembered as Birmingham's Little Italy, where ice cream makers were well known. More have arrived in recent years.

The community in numbers

At the 2021 Census, out of a city population of 1,144,919, 6,185 people living in the city had been born in Italy; 1,440 Birmingham residents described their ethnic group as Italian; and 2,797 residents gave Italian as their main language. Main language figures leave out the many bilingual residents who use English day to day, so the number who speak the language at home is higher still.

Working for Birmingham

Italian families built businesses in catering, ice cream and restaurants, and today Italian-heritage residents work in medicine, academia, engineering, fashion, finance and hospitality. A new generation of Italian professionals and researchers has come to the city in the last decade.

The city's future rests on the same things as its past: skills, enterprise and people willing to put in the hours. Whether in a hospital, a classroom, a lecture theatre, a van full of tools or a shop on a busy high street, Italian residents are helping to build that future, and to make Birmingham a stronger, fairer and more welcoming city.

Culture and community life

Italian food, from pizza and pasta to gelato and espresso, is loved by everyone in Birmingham. Italian Catholic traditions, family feasts at Christmas and Easter, and a passion for football and fashion keep the community's culture strong.

Like so many of the communities that make up modern Birmingham, the Italian community shows how a city can be home to many cultures at once. Its members are proud of where they come from, and just as proud to be Brummies.