A festival celebrating the food, drink and culture of Italy has announced its full programme as it once again prepares to welcome visitors to Manchester's Cathedral Gardens on the August bank holiday weekend. Festa Italiana, run by much-loved restaurant Salvi's, is a free-to-enter festival from Friday 26 August to Sunday 28 August born out of Manchester’s Italian community and heritage.
Last year’s event saw 40,000 people descend on the Festival Piazza on Cathedral Gardens and organisers are hoping this year’s event will be even bigger. Drawing inspiration from the traditional festivals in Italy and adding a little sprinkling of Mancunian flavour, the Festa weekend is dedicated to bringing people together to enjoy authentic Italian food and drink, cooking masterclasses by celebrity chefs, feasts, family activities, and live music.
Chefs heading to the city include the iconic Gennaro Contaldo - UK brand ambassador for Parmigiano Reggiano, and Saturday Kitchen regular Giancarlo Caldesi, celebrity chef and restaurateur Aldo Zilli and Great British Bake Off 2021 winner Giuseppe Dell'Anno. Maurizio Cecco, the owner of much-loved Manchester restaurant Salvi’s will also be in attendance, along with author and pasta maker Carmela Sereno Hayes, who will be running pasta-making workshops.
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Returning Festa favourites, Café Cannoli will be selling cannoli made using authentic ingredients imported directly from Sicily, while local lads Paul and Mike from I Knead Pizza will be bringing their wood fired oven along to serve up their highly acclaimed Neapolitan pizza. Visitors will also be able to grab delicious pasta dishes from Chorlton favourites Lucky Mama's.
Drinks makers like Gin Mare, Luxardo and Poretti will also be running stalls over the weekend. Elsewhere, there will be Italian street food stalls, live music and a photography exhibition, as well as activities for children too.
Music and Festa Italiana naturally go hand-in-hand, so visitors can also expect traditional folk music revisited in a folk-rock style from southern Italy from Compagnia Sole Luna - who will be flying in from Naples. There will also be a full line up of local artists and bands including the city’s best loved opera singer The Manchester Tenor, while DJs will be spinning records each night.
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