Festival of Italian food, fun and culture

11 September 2009

PRESS RELEASE

Auckland’s truly “fantastico” festival of Italian food, fun and culture

On Sunday 20 September an Auckland primary school will be transformed into a vibrant corner of Italy for a one-day festival of everything Italian. The food, the fashion, the wine, the art, the music – if it’s Italian it will be there.

Gastronomic delights will have pride of place – whether you’re after some mozzarella or a bottle of limoncello to take home, or a feast to enjoy then and there. You’ll find your favourite Italian dishes (pizza, lasagne, gnocchi, gelato…) at the festival, as well as lesser-known regional recipes for you to discover.

Entry is free to this family day out, which is run by the Dante Alighieri Society with the help and support of the Italian community of Auckland. Live music will be provided by an Italian band, and there will be some opera arias for classical music lovers too. Away from the main stage, there will be a display of new and vintage Vespa scooters, plus activities for children, a table football tournament and Italian karaoke!

 “This year’s festival will be the biggest ever,” says Valeria Santillo-Harris, the Festival co-ordinator. “We have twice as many stalls as last year and we’re looking forward to an amazing day – rain or shine!”

The Festival takes place from 11am to 4pm at Freeman’s Bay Primary School, 95 Wellington Street, Ponsonby, on Sunday 20 September.
The Italian School for Children

The Festival Italiano is organized by the Dante Alighieri Italian Society of Auckland as a fundraiser for the Italian school for children. Every year 70 to 100 children (both Italian and non-Italian) attend after-school lessons run by the society.

The school’s youngest pupils are under-fives who attend a weekly playgroup where they learn Italian children’s songs and play games in an Italian language environment. There are more formal language lessons for the older children aimed at teaching them grammar and usage, but also about Italian literature, history and culture.

“We started the Italian school for children with very little – I kept all the books in the boot of my car because we had no place to store them between lessons,” says Sandra Fresia, the school’s director. The school now uses rooms at the Freeman’s Bay Community Centre for both children’s and adult’s language courses.

The society has been promoting Italian language and culture in Auckland since 1931, but the language classes have expanded significantly in the last 15 years. It is part of a world-wide network of Dante Alighieri societies headquartered in Rome.

Ends.

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