South End Homes for Rent

The history of La Fiorentina Pastry Shop tells the ups and downs of the historic South End neighborhood. Thousands of Italians immigrated to Springfield and settled in the South End in the early 1900s. Wealthy Springfield residents lived on the bluff on the neighborhood’s north end, while the newly arrived immigrants in the heart of the South End opened bakeries, restaurants and delis, including La Fiorentina, which debuted in 1946. “They had their own businesses they developed,” says Bill Fiore, an agent with William Raveis Real Estate who grew up in Springfield. “Some are still in business today as different generations have taken over.” In the following decades, many residents left South End. Some families were forced to leave in the ‘60s when the construction of Interstate 91 through the neighborhood destroyed 400 homes. More trouble followed in 2011 when a tornado ripped through the South End. In 2012, La Fiorentina opened another location in East Longmeadow, a small city south of Springfield, as the bakery followed its customers to the suburbs, Fiore says. Still, the neighborhood south of Springfield’s downtown has persisted, thanks in part to the core of longstanding