Just as Soho has been slowly losing its Italian community for many years, Clerkenwell, once London’s own Little Italy, has been suffering a similar fate.
Much has changed since the widespread pre- and post-war Italian immigration to Britain, when manufacturing firms from Bedford sent executives out regularly to Campania, Calabria and Lecce to find workers – today, one in five in the town claim Italian heritage – and when Italian cafes sprang up en masse in Glasgow, Cardiff, Manchester and beyond.
Earlier this year, I reported on the closure of I Camisa, one of the country’s oldest Italian delis and an institution adored by chefs, celebrities and local shoppers. It had been a fixture in Soho for more than 100 years.
Now another of London’s historic Italian focal points could shut forever: Casa Italiana San Vincenzo Palloti, otherwise known as The Club, is a hub for so many of the Italian diaspora in the capital, but a lack of funds has left it in a perilous state.
One member, Mario Zeppetelli, moved as a boy to the UK from Sicily in the 1960s. He met his wife at Casa Italiana, based at 136 Clerkenwell Road, and has been visiting since he arrived.
“Since immigrating, it has always been the focal point for Italian immigrants,” he told me recently. “Along with the beautiful St Peter’s Italian church next door, and the Italian delicatessen, Terroni’s, downstairs, this has been a Sunday ritual: church, shop, coffee.
“My teenage years were spent here. I even met my future wife there, so for this very reason alone it remains close to my heart.”
Zeppetelli said that Italian families moved to Islington, Hackney, and, as Clerkenwell became gentrified, further afield. Today the club offers limited opening hours, but remains a place for people to come together to eat, drink, and listen to old Italian tunes on rickety speakers.
On Tuesdays, there’s a £10 lunch, invariably pasta, served from a simple kitchen framed in old wood. Regulars sit amid old photos, Catholic imagery and endless card games. Card games are big in Italy: my nonna plays solitaire daily, as if her life depends on it.
So I am using this column this week to spotlight a fundraiser happening on November 14 at Casa Italiana. The French-based restaurant group Big Mamma – known for Italian-inspired restaurants such as Ave Mario, Gloria and Carlotta – has “stepped in” to help save it.
The place is, after all, a cornerstone of working-class Italian culture, well worth preserving. It’s a noble cause and I believe Big Mamma really does care.
Marco Rastelli, head chef at Gloria, said he loves the old-fashioned Casa Italiana, a relic of a venue, since finding out about it as news spread of its looming demise. He said he was buoyed to find somewhere selling “well-priced, very strong espresso”, where walking in feels as if you’re stepping back into the 1980s.
“Everything, from the design, to the food, to the people, makes you feel like you’re in a true Italian social club, nestled in the heart of a small town or village. It really reminded me of when I would go to visit my relatives in rural Italy near Rome, where I grew up.”
So, those interested and in London might want to go along to the event this evening. From 6.30pm until 11.30pm, the club will be open to all for a four-course Italian Christmas feast. Burrata, lasagne, ossobuco. There’ll be music, dancing, and a tombola, too, and all the proceeds will go directly to the club.
It is heartening to learn about Big Mamma trying to help out. I really hope Casa Italia survives.
And if you can’t make the event, just know that in Casa Italia an espresso costs £1.80; a Peroni £3. In central London. Let’s keep what matters alive.
Tickets are £60 from
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/gloria-x-casa-italianas-cena-di-natale-charity-dinner-tickets-1048728534277
