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If you’re one of the hundreds of thousands of Londoners dreaming of a Mediterranean getaway, you’re in luck. This Sunday, you can spend the afternoon in Italy for the price of a tube fare. Just head to Clerkenwell Road, where the annual Procession of Our Lady of Mount Carmel revives the spirit of what was once London’s Little Italy.
Starting at St Peter’s Italian Church (built in the 1860s for the area’s then booming Italian population), the procession is the centrepiece of an Italian-style festival, or sagra, on the streets of Clerkenwell. Join the crowds lining the roads to watch life-size scenes of saints, martyrs and other Biblical types cruise by on floats, then scoff arancini, prosciutto and cannoli at the stalls set up on Warner Street.
The parade has been running almost every year for more than a century, and it still draws Italian Londoners from all over town. Just add Neapolitan sunshine.