Little Italy is home to Italian Canadian-owned shops and restaurants, the Jean-Talon Market, as well as the Church of the Madonna della Difesa, built by Italian immigrants from the Campobasso area in Molise to commemorate the apparition of the Virgin Mary in La Difesa, an area of Campobasso.

The largest wave of Italian immigrants arrived with the end of World War II.

A large part of them settled around the Jean Talon Market and the Church of Madonna della Difesa, giving birth to Little Italy.

The Church of the Madonna della Difesa (French: Église de Notre-Dame-de-la-Défense) was designated as a National Historic Site of Canada in 2002.

The building and its interior decoration, were made in stages by artist Guido Nincheri, whose work was influenced by the structure of a typical Italian parish church from the Renaissance era.