THE Italian community are staging a free festival for the city, Festa Italiana Manchester, from Friday, June 23 to Sunday, June 25. As its hub Cathedral Gardens will be transformed into the free entry’ Festival Piazza’, open from 11am to 11pm each day.
All things Italian will be celebrated, recreating the atmosphere of festivals over in the old country, where the community comes together to socialise, enjoy great food, great drink and live music. The focus will be on cuisine but organisers promise the fun won’t stop there.
Centrepiece will bean authentic Italian fine food market selling meats, cheeses, oils, coffee and more. Maurizio Cecco, owner of Salvi’s, is known for his connections with some of the finest and most bespoke producers of food in the Campania region, where he is from. And he will be bringing them together in Manchester to take part in this very special occasion.
Wander the market, pick up a focaccia from Trove, artisan produce from Cibosano and gelato from Joe Delucci’s. Street food stalls will be serving up a range of Italian favourites, from pizza and pasta to arancini and fritto mixto.
A live cookery theatre will feature a programme of Italian chefs from Manchester and beyond, while nonnas (main picture) will also be demonstrating how to make traditional pasta from scratch at their pasta making station.
There will even be a resurrection of the 20-metre-pizza that Salvi’s created on Albert Square for Manchester Food and Drink Festival in October 2016. This time the ambition is to beat the last record and for 50 metres of pizzas to be devoured.
Fine Italian brands are flocking to take part, including Moretti beer and Aperol, who will be hosting a Spritz Cocktail Bar. True Terroir wines will be sampling their selection of artisan Italian wines which will be available to buy by the bottle. Plus, other Italian restaurants, including San Carlo, will be getting in on the action in a range of events beyond the Festa hub.
There will be live music all weekend at Cathedral Gardens, as well as face painting for kids.
Maurizio Cecco of Salvi’s commented: “We enjoyed the Italian Day we staged at Manchester Food and Drink Festival so much and we were staggered by its popularity too! So we thought, why not team up with the rest of the Italian community to create our own Italian Festival and dedicate a whole weekend to the wonderful flavours of Italy? Manchester has a long history with Italy and Italian culture and this festival will be one, big, delicious celebration of that.”