Little Italy
+EC1 places index
Little Italy | Hidden London
hidden-london.com
Little Italy | Hidden London • hidden-london.com
Wikipedia - general description of Little Italy
Little Italy - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Little Italy - Wikipedia • en.wikipedia.org
Islington Life - Italians in Islington
Although Italians have migrated to London for centuries, numbers rose in the early to mid-19th century
islingtonlife.london
Islington Life - Italians in Islington • islingtonlife.london
Clerkenwell 101
57 In the 1850s the western part of Clerkenwell (near Rosebery Avenue and Clerkenwell Road) was known as London’s ‘Little Italy’ because around 2,000 Italians had recently settled in the area.
58 The area still remains as the spiritual home of London’s Italian community, largely because of St Peter’s, London’s oldest Italian church. It was modelled on the Basilica San Crisogono in Rome. Next door to the church is an Italian community centre, on the other side is an Italian deli, and opposite is a scooter dealer specialising in Vespas, Piaggios and Gileras.
59 The oldest Italian deli in England, Terroni of Clerkenwell, was established in 1878 and is located next to St Peter’s Church. Its busiest day is Sunday, when London’s Italian community comes to pray and purchase a week’s worth of food from home. In his Sunday service, the priest has been known to recommend the specials on offer.
60 The procession of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Sagra takes place each July in the streets surrounding the Italian church. It has been running annually since the 1880s (only the two World Wars intervened) and it celebrates the heritage of the local church and community. A vast and vibrant Italian street market sprawls along some of the nearby streets.
Farewell to Luigi, ‘hero of Little Italy’
Daughter tells ‘rags-to-riches’ story, as former ice trade worker dies at 91
islingtontribune.com
Farewell to Luigi, ‘hero of Little Italy’ • islingtontribune.com
February 2021
https://youtu.be/2br7eJ4tBJM
A walk through London's Little Italy up to the fields of Islington, starting at Chancery Lane Station on High Holborn. We go into the curious anomaly of Ely Place, owned by the Bishops of Ely and once technically part of Cambridgeshire. We visit the Old Mitre Pub where Sir Christopher Hatton danced with Elizabeth I. The walking tour goes along Hatton Garden, the centre of Britain's diamond trade, and into Leather Lane Market. The walk through Little Italy takes us in search of Fagin's den in Saffron Hill, a place visited by Charles Dickens who drank in the One Tun pub. We walk along Hatton Wall into Portpool Lane where the Kings Ditch ran and through the Bourne Estate.
The heart of London's Little Italy lay in the streets falling away from Clerkenwell Road into the Fleet Valley - Back Hill, Eyre Street Hill, Herbal Hill. From here we go up Crawford Passage to Coldbath Square and Mount Pleasant. We stroll through Spa Fields - now Exmouth Market and Wilmington Square where Merlin was said to have a cave in the heart of the hill. The Merlin's Cave Tavern stood in Merlin House on the site of Charles Rowan House.
Next we walk through Lloyd Square to Percy Circus where Lenin stayed in 1905. Back on Amwell Street we recount E.O Gordon's powerful mythology of London at the head of the Pen Ton Mound, now the New River Head Upper Reservoir on Claremont Square. Passing down Penton Street our walk ends at White Conduit House, once a celebrated pleasure garden and the true home of cricket.