
Lancaster’s popular Festa Italia returns to the city at the weekend.
The event returns for a fourth year of celebrating all things Italian, right in the heart of Lancaster, between May 21st-29th.
Festa Italia includes food stalls, supercars, Ducati bikes, live music and entertainment in the streets, amongst a packed programme of activities, with the popular event driving huge footfall into the city centre.
Many of Lancaster’s hospitality venues will be offering special Italian-themed food and drink.
Among the events taking place during the nine-day celebration include:
May 24th - An easy listening tribute to Italy by the Haffner Orchestra and Turning Point Theatre Arts at the Grand Theatre.
May 26th – Music at pubs around the city.
May 28/29 - Opera events at Lancaster Castle
Festa Italia concludes with a 'gran finale' on Sunday, May 29th, with music, dance, street acts, Italian stalls, street food, cooking demonstrations, supercars and motorbikes and a 'bambino zone' for children in the city centre.
In addition, this year a 'Best Actor' award, dedicated to Italian cinema and fiction, will be presented to Alessio Vassallo.
Alessio is best known in the UK for his role in Il Giovane Montalbano (The Young Montalbano), on BBC4.
The prize, awarded by Totally Local Lancaster, together with the online newspaper cinemaitaliano.info, will be awarded on Friday May 27, at 3pm at The Storey.
From this year, the award will be a permanent fixture of Lancaster Festa Italia, and will be expanded upon in subsequent editions, with projections and meetings of films and series strictly made in Italy.