3952 Where to watch Italy in London?

I'm an English man with an Italian girlfriend, and I'd like to know what places people would recommend to watch Italy in London for the World Cup. I don't like Bar Italia because it's too small, expensive and always too busy. Good for atmosphere, but rubbish for actually watching the game, so what other places do those Italians living here think is the preferable options. For the record we watched the last game at an excellent pub in Kilburn run by Italians, called the Del Ponte, which also does the best pizza in London, for 5 quid on match days! Anyway, that's my mini-promotion over, what do others advise.

Grazie

Loftino Vino :)

Category
Sports

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 06/16/2006 - 08:02

Doesn't anyone have any ideas for venues, the next game is tomorrow!

Thanks,:rolleyes:

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 06/16/2006 - 10:22

Hi there,

Sorry that nobody's come back to you yet. I'm not a Londoner either, so don't know any good venues there!

Not sure how many members actually live in London...

Good luck!

S :)

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 06/16/2006 - 11:23

I know London very well - lived there for more years than I care to remember. You have already named the most popular place in London to be amongst Italian football fans - Bar Italia - it's an institution, hence the prices, but most bars in Soho will have the match on a big screen and they will all be full of Italians who live and/or work in the area.

I don't know the Del Ponte in Kilburn, even though I lived on West End Lane, so I guess it's a new place - but if you enjoyed being there, why not repeat the experience? :)

The only other place I can recommend is a place called Marine Ices on Haverstock Hill in Camden - another great institution and I guarantee this is where you will find not only the very best pizza, but also the finest Italian ice cream in England.

I'm not sure what they have planned for this world cup, so give them a ring first on 020 7482 9000 and ask to speak with Gino or Gaetano to find out. Even if you don't go there to watch the match, make sure you go there one day to work your way through the ice cream menu. They have 50 or 60 different flavours - all made on the premises - all fabulous! :D :D

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 06/16/2006 - 14:04

There's a list here:

[url]http://www.italianialondra.com/pagetemp/mondiali-2006-londra.asp[/url]

The italianialondra site is a good resource for italians living in and around London.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 06/17/2006 - 05:02

"but most bars in Soho will have the match on a big screen and they will all be full of Italians who live and/or work in the area" ???

I lived in London for 10 years and I don't remember this crush of Italians every time the WC or European Champs came around! Bar Italia obviously but in the other pubs of Good Ole London you'll be hard pushed to find anyone supporting Italy. Probably the contrary in my experience - the English "love-in" for all things Italian is just a little (!) exaggerated on this fine messageboard. Italy are about as popular as Argentina and Germany in football terms i.e. we don't like them and we will rejoice when they depart to some minnow like South Korea. In football terms everyone is the enemy.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 06/17/2006 - 05:46

Excuse me Stuart.. I made a mistake, what I meant to type was..

"most [B]ITALIAN[/B] bars in Soho will have the match on a big screen and they will all be full of Italians who live and/or work in the area".

Even though so many bars/restaurants in Soho are owned and run by Italians.. my memory of ITALIANS supporting ITALY must have been an illusion, but I only lived in London for 22 years.. so I'm happy to bow to your obvious knowledge. :D :p :D

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 06/17/2006 - 09:00

Stuart's right. The English don't have a lot of respect for Italians (as I have said elsewhere on this forum). English football fans (hooligan and otherwise) will be delighted to see Italy booted out for two reasons. Firstly, that's one less serious contender to worry about and, secondly, Italian football still has a reputation for being negative (at best) and dirty, scheming and cheating (at worst). Italians, partly, have only themselves to blame for this. It used to be true and though it is much less the case now, Italians still think that to play percentage football and win ( 'fare il furbo') is always preferable to good old-fashioned Anglo-Saxon, heart-on-your-sleeve endeavour.:cool:

Read Vialli's (The Italian Job) book for a badly written but interesting comaprison of the two footballing cultures.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 06/22/2006 - 04:50

wow, some enlightening comments, and I'm glad you've given me some food for thought (Italian food at that :) )

i'm not sure its possible to bracket the azzuri in with Germany and Argentina though, mainly because we never seem to meet Italy in big tournaments, so we have little reason to have issue with them, plus they're often like us, gallant losers, so we perhaps even have a kinhship.

not being too far from Camden that might be a good option, it's just a shame i can't see today's game, pesky manager expecting me to do a full days work and all, although my girlfriend works in Swiss Cottage, so I'll mention it to her, she'll definately be interested in that gelato!

Good luck anyway to Italia, and hopefully we'll meet you on 9th July.

Grazie!