Review Feature: Living la dolce vita | The Little Italy exhibition is at the Camden Local Studies and Archives Centre, 2nd Floor, Holborn Library, 32-38 Theobalds Road, WC1, until September 27.

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Published: 5 June 2008

1933 procession in Little Italy, one of the photos in the exhibition

Camden features | Little Italy exhibition | Roman Catholic | Clerkenwell | Camden Local Studies and Archives Centre|

FEW vestiges remain of Little Italy.
St Peter’s Church in Clerkenwell Road stands out from its modern neighbours, Gazzano’s deli still does a brisk trade in Farringdon Road as it has done since 1901, and once a year the streets are overrun with effigies of the Virgin Madonna for a Roman Catholic procession.
But many more Roman stalwarts of Holborn and Clerkenwell have gone the way of Augustus. Mazzini Garibaldi’s working men’s club shut last year, Tironi’s deli soon after. Darby Sabini, once London’s most feared mob boss, has long ago returned to the ether.
Little Italy’s salad days are explored in a free exhibition at the Camden Local Studies and Archives Centre, opening this week. From the beginning of the 19th century, organ grinders, ice-cream makers and knife sharpeners were a common sight on the streets of Holborn as Italians fled the political instability of their native land. Those days may be long gone, but the photographs and archives of this exhibition ensure they have not been forgotten.

•The Little Italy exhibition is at the Camden Local Studies and Archives Centre, 2nd Floor, Holborn Library, 32-38 Theobalds Road, WC1, until September 27.

SIMON WROE

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