ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that organized around several episodes drawn from the daily life at St Peter's, and which are to be read as a collage rather than an organized sequence that composes a plot. These episodes capture a number of layers embedded within the process of identity formation, and which tie up with broader theoretical questions about the reterritorialization of identity, the invention of tradition, and the embodiment of culture. St Peter's acquires a special significance within London Italian historicity as a result of its association with its immediate surroundings. In British-Italian historicity, The Hill is construed as the original settlement, the second place of origin for Italian immigrants. The most important affair of St Peter's is its annual procession in honour of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. St Peter's is a place of re-membering; a place of collective memory, in which elements of the past are brought together to mould a communal body of belonging.
