In the southern part of Buenos Aires, you will discover one of the most colourful places in all Argentine, with its own history, its customs and its colourful brightly painted houses built out of corrugated sheet metal: el Barrio de La Boca, the neighbourhood of the (river) mouth, the first port the city ever had.

Its unique and typical buildings and customs reflect the notable influence of the European immigrants, mainly Italians from the city of Geneva, that settled here during the great immigrant wave that swept Argentina from 1860 till 1930.
"La Piccola Italia", the small Italy, as it is also called, is full of Mediterranean style. It permeates everything, from its meals, which are served up in traditional canteens, to its architectural style.
In the XIX century it was a settlement of Genovese sailors and stevedores, a happy crowd, from which a fraternal society grew up; it turned out to be the cradle of many a poet, musician and painter.

They spoke zeneixe, the particular dialect of the Genovese, as if they were still living back home. They were hardworking and fraternal people; as a matter of fact they set up several community charity organisations. Later the area received a sprinkling of Greek, Polish, English and Turkish immigrants, but the place never lost its Genovese flavour and preponderance. Its aspect, so different from the other barrios in the city, was dominated by wooden low houses with roofs made out of corrugated zinc, all painted in bright colours, all probably leftovers from ship painting.

Originally the modest houses were built as pile dwellings, with a boat tied up at the entrance door, in order to get around in times of floods. The multi coloured canteens are also very particular in this area. They are commercial outlets for characteristically Italian food and fish, and there is always music and dancing, which draw big crowds.

In 1870 La Boca became a formal barrio by decree, and in 1882 a group of enthusiastic youth, after a labour conflict, wanted to make La Boca an independent republic.
The original paved stone streets are still around together with the ship cemetery, the sand silos, the naval stores and some small coffee shops on la Vuelta de Rocha Street, in front of Riachuelo (the stream), where one can still find the old bridge "Puente de la Boca", which over the years served as an inspiration to painters such as Quinquela Martn.

This multi-coloured place is also the headquarters of one of the most significant and oldest football (soccer) clubs in the country: Boca Juniors, founded in 1905. At the corner of Brandsen and the Del Valle Iberlucea Streets, rises the impressive and legendary Bombonera, the club stadium that holds, in the main hall of its sport complex, original paintings made by Quinquela Martn.
From the boulevard, adjacent to the Riachuelo, one can see the rows of discarded ships and boats as well as the bridge Nicols Avellaneda. We advise you visit to La Boca in daytime when it takes on a life of its own and Sundays are always good days because of the many activities for tourists that take place then.