The Adelaide Italian Festival to return in November
The Adelaide Italian Festival is back - with very best in Italian food, wine, culture and tradition.
Lifestyle
Don't miss out on the headlines from Lifestyle. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The Adelaide Italian Festival is back - and it’s bigger and better than ever before.
After a three-year hiatus, the much-loved festival will return next month with an expanded format held over 10 days, featuring events and experiences showcasing the very best in Italian food, wine, culture and tradition.
Celebrations will be spread across the city, from signature events such as an Italian breakfast in the Central Market and an Aperol Sessions Street Party in the CBD, to smaller niche gatherings at community clubs, associations and local businesses around the state.
These include traditional pasta-making classes hosted by Italian nonnas such as Maria Calvarese, pictured with Giuditta Hooper and daughter Stella, 4, who will pass on their culinary knowledge down to the next generation, plus special Italian-style long dinners and lunches.
The festival board’s chair, Ben Rillo, said they were hoping the November 13-22 event would eventually become “the world’s best Italian festival”.
“For well over forty years, South Australians have loved attending Italian celebrations. But as our community has grown, so should our celebration,” he said.
“We wanted to deliver a festival that is open to every corner of our community to participate, and every South Australian to experience.”
First hosted in Adelaide in 1976, the event evolved into the annual two-day Carnevale festival which was last held in 2017 at the Adelaide Showgrounds.
Two years in the making, this year’s festival will kick off with a ‘Cocktails in the Vines’ event in the Adelaide Hills, followed by a traditional mass at St Francis Xavier Cathedral in Victoria Square, in honour of the state’s Italian migrant parents and grandparents.
The program also features an Italian car exhibition, an all-day ‘Grand Bike Ride’ around the Barossa Valley and a garden concert in the Hills to close the festival.
“Throughout the week, our full culture will be on display… there’s no pandemic that can stop us celebrating the very best our culture has to offer,” Mr Rillo said.
“Our program is broad, but restricted this year, as we mark the occasion in difficult times. We look forward to this growing year-on-year to become the world’s best Italian Festival.”
To see the full program, visit: adelaideitalianfestival.com.au