Italian songs are playing loudly over a speaker while a man to my right masterfully spoons filling into giant, fresh cannoli for a crowd of transfixed, hungry onlookers.
The smell of hot pizza wafts through the air, but it’s not enough to lure people away from the longest queue of all — the one for porchetta.
“It’s a three-day process,” explains Mario Zeppetelli, one of the British-Italian community living in London.
“On Wednesday, we head to Smithfield Market in the early hours to get the meat. Thursday is for preparing the pigs — stuffing them with top-secret ingredients, handed down in a family recipe — and on Friday, we cook them overnight for 14 hours.” The roasted pork is then carved and, in true Italian style, very generously packed into buns. No wonder this labour of love draws such a crowd, even at 11 in the morning.
JACK TAYLOR FOR THE TIMES
JACK TAYLOR FOR THE TIMES
Porchetta, pizza and pasta are must haves for the hungry onlookers
JACK TAYLOR FOR THE TIMES
But all of this is just the warm-up for the main event: the annual Festa della Madonna del Carmine — a religious procession that’s been held in Clerkenwell, central London, since 1883.
Huge floats depicting biblical scenes, along with people in traditional costume carrying statues, crosses, flags, and artwork, slowly parade from St Peter’s — the oldest Italian church in London — through the streets, before looping back to where they began.
The event’s long history is a reminder of the longevity of one of the capital’s most established immigrant communities. Many think of Italian migration to the UK as something that began in the 1950s, but the first wave actually arrived in the 1880s, largely from northern and central Italy, and formed communities in Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Cardiff and here in London.
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Clerkenwell is, in fact, London’s historic “Little Italy”. Despite its chic and trendy reputation today, it wasn’t considered a desirable part of the city back then.
Nevertheless, Italians made it their home by opening up businesses — many of the old shopfront signs can still be seen today — and beginning traditions like this one.
Nearly 150 years on from the first festa, it remains a vital way to keep the community connected — and a chance to welcome others to experience Italian culture, which the food ensures is not exactly a hard sell.
JACK TAYLOR FOR THE TIMES
JACK TAYLOR FOR THE TIMES
The procession has been held in Clerkenwell since 1883
JACK TAYLOR FOR THE TIMES
Rosalia Culora, whose family has been selling pizza at the festival for over 40 years, says it’s no longer just about being Italian. “It’s inclusive,” she says, handing over a freshly baked margherita on a cardboard plate. “Maybe 20 or 30 years ago it was more focused on the Italian community, but now it’s about celebrating food, love, and being happy in the sunshine. It brings everyone together — that’s what we’re all here to do.”
The Culora family, originally from Sicily, don’t even run a pizza business. “I work in film and television,” Rosalia says with a wide-eyed smile. “But every year, we come here to sell pizza, raise money for the church and just enjoy ourselves.”
As the generations go by, are people still as in touch with their Italian roots as they once were, I ask. “The festival isn’t as big as it was,” she admits. “The floats have got smaller but everyone’s passion has got bigger and now it’s more about welcoming everyone.”
Franca Bongiorno, who owns a north London restaurant called Lizzie’s Cucina, was born in London to Italian parents and is here today selling spritz. “It’s organic,” she makes sure to point out. She’s not surprised the event draws a big crowd. “Italy has the best of everything,” she says, with the kind of confidence Italians are known for. “The best food, the best wine, the best clothes, good-looking men, good-looking women — and we know how to live. So why wouldn’t they love us?”
JACK TAYLOR FOR THE TIMES
JACK TAYLOR FOR THE TIMES
St Peter’s is the oldest Italian church in London
JACK TAYLOR FOR THE TIMES
Naturally, the Italian community turn out in force, with some travelling from places such as Bedford and Peterborough, as well as from north London areas such as Enfield and Hoddesdon, which Bongiorno says is where many Italians settled.
She started a Facebook group 14 years ago called Growing Up Italian in the UK, which now has about 30,000 members and helps people to stay connected to their roots. “People like me don’t let them forget it,” Bongiorno jokes. “But we also want to keep things going for the third generation and beyond.”
A great example of staying connected to one’s heritage is from Felice Notaro, a festival attendee whose grandparents were married in Italy in 1897 and moved to London six years later, in 1903.
“We had a shop on the corner,” he says, pointing it out. “I’ve been coming to this event for 68 years. I went to school next to the church and I still live nearby, just 20 minutes away.”
“We go to the Italian church every Sunday and then head next door to the club for a coffee,” says his wife, Lucia. “That’s how you keep your heritage alive otherwise, you could lose it. The sad thing is, when everyone first moved over, they really wanted to fit in because they were migrants and many lost their language. So we make sure the children have lessons.”
“If anything we [the second and third generation] are more passionate because we want to keep [our heritage] going.”
Milling about the festival, there’s a joyous atmosphere with many couples dancing and the giddy crowds unperturbed by occasional showers of rain. Elderly gentlemen turn out in full suits while young children zoom around clutching golden balls of arancini.
In the space of half an hour, I devoured one of Mario’s porchetta buns (buonissimo) and a huge slab of lasagne from a Calabrian stall, which sadly meant the cannoli I’d been eyeing up was no longer physically possible.
Felice says the long-running festival is extremely important to the Italian community. “Lots of people moved away from the area, but they always seem to come back for today.” I can see why.
Dining and Cooking