# 32
Photo and concept by © Rob Venom 2022
I was born in the most beautiful city in the world: Naples, and I will always be happy about it. I’m proud to bring with me not only my Italian, but also my Neapolitan heritage all around the world. I lived in Naples great part of my youth, until the moment I started to travel for work. At one point of my life I’ve been caught in the tourism and hospitality industry, I liked it so much and I did different jobs in Egypt, Spain, Kenya, USA and of course Italy. However, all my work and travel experiences were only for few months. London is the first place where I’ve actually lived for several years.
What do you do in your life in London?
Professionally speaking, I keep on working in the tourism industry: I had the chance to work for a big tour operator still covering a role of public assistance… Basically speaking, I deal face to face with people, and that’s what I love. But after few years I quit to take an opportunity I was pursuing by at least a decade: being a tour director, that means taking groups of people around Europe. Specifically school groups, I’ve always loved working with kids and teens. This job solved the problem of my restlessness, after a while I couldn’t stand anymore being static in one single job. Now I’m more free, and dedicate more time to myself.
It’s strange: because of my job I make a lot of people feel welcome and at home in a city that is not my hometown… I wish I could do that back in Naples… That’s why I never forgot my heritage and currently one of my strongest passions is to find places where the Italian culture is alive and kicking in London, especially in the food scene. Particularly, I love to find the best Neapolitan pizzerias and share my info with the others: I have my own project about it, I blog on the best pizza I eat in London and in the rest of the world.
What is the reason to leave Italy and come to London?
There’s no one single reason, everyone has its own. In my case I was lucky, because I was already travelling for work and enjoying it, so I didn’t flee Italy for lack of job or discontent… But it’s true that London has given me opportunities that I don’t think I would have ever found in Italy. Anyway, to answer your question, my reason was more simple, but beautiful: I followed a girl. And it was a good bet because after five years we’re still together!
What were your best and worst experiences in London.
The day my girlfriend and I moved together to our own flat was certainly the beginning of something great. Sounds silly, but not everyone can afford this, and even if we still pay a huge rent for few square meters we have a place we can call our own. The worst, though, is everytime a friend or anyone you spend a lot of good time with decides to leave this city. Each time you feel more and more alone, because at the end of the day you realise that for many people London is just a rite of passage, but not a stable place where to live.
I asked you to choose a place in London that you like or you are tied to, what was your choice and why you made it?
I would say every Neapolitan pizzeria, haha!! But beside that, I love the area where I’ve always lived, Pimlico. So central, but it seems so far away from everything. The quietness, the white houses so British, small good restaurants in many corner, some of them Italian… and the river Thames, the view on the iconic Battersea Power Station and the fact that you can just cross a bridge and enjoy a walk in one of the most beautiful, but probably less known, parks of London, the Battersea Park.
During your early times in London, did you have any problem?
I think like many Italians it was hard to me to face that this city is so different in many things than the place I come from… something even today it’s still hard to come to terms with, regardless the fact that the Italian influence is really strong here. But beside that I’ve never really had real problems here, and I’m thankful for that: I consider myself really lucky.
What do you think about this project?
It’s a wonderful project, and it should be extended to every city in the world where there is even the smallest Italian community.
How do you think you could support and promote Italian culture?
I hope I’m doing it already with my blog about the Neapolitan pizzerias in London and beyond… It’s a little thing, but I really think that any voice that can communicate its love for our Italian culture needs to be heard. We are not only the country of churches, art and countryside… We are a people full of passion, creativity and love and we don’t just keep it for ourselves, we have to share it with the world. This is what we are the best at it!
