section 5
24hours London
London is and has always been the gateway of immigration to the UK, a sort of British Ellis Island. Until the 1950s Italians concentrated in the Little Italys of Clerkenwell and Soho. Yet, those who came in the following decades, and including the 75 thousand plus who arrived between 2011 and 2016, faced a different situation. The dispersed geography of the Italian community in London has become that of London itself.
Today Italians are flocking to London. The City is the core of global finance and many of the investment decisions on Italian money, for Italian companies, are indeed taken by Italians – but in London.
London is a city with one foot in Europe and the other in the rest of world. This attracts businessmen, as well as young artists, perhaps hoping to reach the opposite shore of the ocean, by using London as a stepping stone.
London is finally a mix of innovation and change, offering great opportunity for start-ups, creative characters, whoever wants to invent new instruments or artistic techniques, from Abbey Road Studios to the Shoreditch art galleries.
Thus, if you would like to meet the Italian community in London you just need to live in the city for 24 hours. From the first coffee in the morning in a Caffè Nero, where all the baristas are Italians, to a show in the golden halls of the Royal Opera House, where everything, from the operas to the director, is Italian.
Stories
Swimming in the Aquarium
Daniel Galvin Salon – Marylebone, Bond Street Station, W1U 7ET | read story
Lino Carbosiero, pasta, rock and hairdressing
Daniel Galvin Salon – Marylebone, Bond Street Station, W1U 7ET | read story
