Opened in November 1936, Casa d'Italia is Montreal's first Italian community centre, occupying an Art Deco building at 505 Jean-Talon Est in Little Italy. The project grew out of a felt need: by the early 1930s, more than 20,000 Italians had settled in the city, and the community wanted a place that could bridge newly arrived immigrants and Québécois life while keeping Italian culture visible. The building was shuttered during the Second World War, when Italo-Canadians were classified as enemy aliens under Mussolini's fascist regime, and formally incorporated under a private act of the Quebec government in 1947.

Today, Casa d'Italia functions as a cultural centre open to the whole neighbourhood, running Italian language courses, hosting concerts and film screenings in partnership with Cinéma Public, and marking community milestones through events like the Next Gen Awards.