FESTA Italiana Manchester, the city’s first festival of Italian food, drink and culture, has announced a new highlight of the returning festival – the Festa Feasts. These two Italian banquets – special, one-off, collaborative occasions – bring something fresh and innovative to this second weekend-long celebration of all things Italian, taking place from July 13-15 in Cathedral Gardens.
This year, in addition to the producers market, live cookery theatre, bars, street food and live music, there’ll be these two rustic, authentic, Italian feasts, taking place in the Festa Pavilion on the Gardens and featuring some of the finest Italian brands that Manchester has to offer.
The first Festa Feast, ‘The Italian Adventure’, takes place on Friday 13. Salvi’s, San Carlo and Lupo Caffè Italiano will join forces to create a course each of an extraordinary feast. Guests will be welcomed with an Aperol Spritz drinks reception, which will be followed by a four-course dinner showcasing the very best Italian ingredients, dishes and the cuisine style for which each brand is known.
Guests can expect beautiful, simple Italian dishes where exceptional Campanian ingredients are allowed to shine from Salvi’s; masterful, classic dishes from Italian icon, San Carlo and Lupo Caffè Italiano’s acclaimed, rustic home cooking in the form of ToM fave tiramisu for dessert.
Guests will hear from each of the restaurants involved, who will talk them through the courses. Plus there’s an after-dinner digestif of either Limoncello di Capri or Molinari Sambuca and live Italian music throughout from a four-piece band coming specially from Naples.
The event will start at 7:30pm at the Pavilion, and tickets are £45 with a donation included to the Cure for Florence campaign. Florence, four years old, from Stalybridge, is a family friend of the Salvi’s team, and was diagnosed with GM1 in December 2016. The condition is life limiting and this diagnosis has turned the family’s life upside down. The donations will go towards funding further research into finding a cure for GM1, increasing awareness about this condition and giving Florence the best quality of life possible.
The second Festa Feast will take place on Saturday 14. ‘Buca’s Bottomless Banquet with Buca di Pizza’ is to be a non-stop gourmet pizza feast with bottomless prosecco.
A range of Buca’s pizzas, modern twists on Italian classics inspired by summers by the lake, will be brought to the long banqueting tables, offering guests the chance to eat as much as they like.
Expect to sample their pizza range including Frestosa, Spring Chicken, Cousin Vinnay, Hickory Pig, Quattro Stage and Wing Commander. Apart from the bottomless prosecco beer or soft drinks will also be an option.
Buca’s Bottomless Banquet will run over two, 90 minute sessions in the Festa Pavilion starting at 6:30 and 8:30pm. Tickets are £25 and include all food and selected drinks.
Tickets for both events are on sale now and available here for the opener and here for the second.
San Carlo Group MD Marcello Distefano, pictured above with Salvi’s Maurizio Cecco, the Festa organiser, commented: “For us the banquet is a great way to support and showcase the best in real Italian ingredients and cooking, something our family and restaurants have always been passionate about. It’s great to see the Italian community and people of Manchester and beyond come together at Festa Italiana to celebrate our wonderful food and culture.”
Full information and updates can be found on the festival website.
