LONDON - Another one of my history posts, this one's for the nostalgic email readers :). An article about the most iconic café in Britain, reminding me of my family: traditions, making our own wine, food, football, music, my grandfather who had a passion for boxing.
[...] David Bowie and Harvey Keitel are among its A-list clientele and Kylie Minogue comes by for a caffè latte whenever she is in town.
[...] the most striking feature of Bar Italia for the past 40 years has undoubtedly been a giant poster of the great [American of Italian origins] boxer Rocky Marciano [the only one who retired without losing a match] in a T-shirt with his dukes up, ready to set about a punchball. The image, which hangs behind the counter, was a gift to Nino (who took over the business in the 1960s) from the fighter's wife, Barbara, after Rocky was killed in a plane crash in 1969. "It was a thank you to my father for taking such good care of him while he was in London," says Antony. "My father befriended Rocky, who wanted to eat proper Italian food, not from restaurants or hotels. So my grandmother, Caterina, cooked him his favourite food, which was risotto, followed by polenta, and he had some of our home-made wine."
[...] The Polledris' own wine-making traditions are equally precious. "We get grapes sent from Italy every year and we still make it the old-fashioned way, by treading on them. It's a tradition we have kept for four generations. We do it at my father's house in Mill Hill [in North London]. We don't sell it; it's personal. It's part of our heritage."
[...] The Rocky picture has left Bar Italia only once, when the café was depicted in the 1986 Julien Temple film Absolute Beginners, based on the Colin MacInnes novel about 1950s London. "I played a part with my brother Luigi; we were making coffee in Bar Italia. They managed to replicate the whole of Soho in a film studio in Shepperton," says Antony of the movie, which starred [former Oasis Liam Gallagher's ex wife] Patsy Kensit. "The only thing they couldn't replicate was the picture of Rocky Marciano, so they borrowed it and that's the only time it has left Bar Italia since 1969. It was a scene where we were all dancing in the streets."
[...] More than anything, it is known as a magnet for followers of the Azzurri, the Italian national football team. "It's where any second- or third-generation Italian wants to be when Italy is playing football, and the highlights of my 27 years running Bar Italia have been seeing Italy win the World Cup," says Antony. "For the 1982 final we didn't have the large screen, we had a television. And unfortunately, halfway through the game, because of the heat and condensation and lack of ventilation, it broke down. I swear to God that all the Italians started screaming at me like I'd switched it off. Thankfully a TV was found next door and we plugged in the aerial and they flooded back. After the game there was a parade of Fiats and Lancias and people with flags sitting on the car roofs, parading around Frith Street and Soho."
When Italy repeated the feat in 2006, Bar Italia attracted an estimated 8,000 people to Soho. "We had a party upstairs in our Little Italy restaurant next door to Bar Italia and threw all the pasta out the window like confetti. It was hilarious. The chef came in the next day and there was nothing left."
You can read the full article here
When Italy repeated the feat in 2006, Bar Italia attracted an estimated 8,000 people to Soho. "We had a party upstairs in our Little Italy restaurant next door to Bar Italia and threw all the pasta out the window like confetti. It was hilarious. The chef came in the next day and there was nothing left."
You can read the full article here
It doesn't mention the '90s, but to me Bar Italia reminds a song by Pulp from that decade... oh, nostalgia.
In the 80s I was too young and it was more about school, though I have some good memories of life. The 90s was probably the only decade when I was feeling alive, "young and invincible", especially the second half, not the first one (we had to think about school only, but now I see it wasn't so useful for my life... the Gallaghers would agree). In the first decade of 2000 it's difficult to find something really important... especially in music, even though I went to so many gigs. There were still Oasis and their gigs (but some say, Alan too, they ended in '96). The World Cup we won, that was probably one of the few good things (and of course AC Milan winning some Champions Leagues as usual). And I think this decade is not going to be very different from the previous one, things get worse and when they don't they're just "always the same". At least Beady Eye and Pretty Green try to "live in the past"... of the '60s. That's what we should do, 'cause these are not good times at all, and I always say I would still feel as in the '90s, but the people changed.
Trying to get back that '90s feeling now, but it's not easy... "love was such an easy game to play" :)
Bar Italia
Something changed
Common people
Disco 2000 (a bit copied from Italian "Gloria" by Umberto Tozzi)
Mis-Shapes
