La Festa Italiana is celebrating 50 years in downtown Scranton, offering Italian delicacies like cannolis and porketta sandwiches.
SCRANTON, Pa. — 50 years of Italian pride is on display along Courthouse Square in Scranton.
A little tradition and a lot of flavor over five decades
“I can smell it right now: a little onions and a little sausage right now. Yeah, it is; it’s wonderful. It’s tough to walk around the square with an empty stomach,” said Chris DiMattio, La Festa Italiana Chair.
This story continues below.
Carmella’s of Dunmore is getting ready for hundreds of hungry customers just as they’ve done for generations, their pastries piled high. “We’re filling them up. This year we have two new pastries to offer the public. We have chocolate peanut butter lobster tails. and pumpkin cannolis,” said co-owner Patrick Padula.
And if you’re looking for something freshly filled, Pizza by Pappa’s is bringing back its cannoli cart. They’ll be stuffing thousands of cannoli fresh over the weekend with a family recipe behind every bite. “I’m fully Italian. So I really like the community coming together, enjoying the music and the food. So it’s really nice being a part of this as an Italian,” said Francesca Amato.
And La Festa wouldn’t be complete without UNICO’s porketta sandwiches. Hundreds of hard rolls sit in brown bags ready to be topped with their famous porketta.
“We’re going to be serving about 920 dozen sandwiches. and we have over 4,600 pounds of porketta this weekend,” said Jim Sagona, Former President, UNICO Scranton.
A taste of tradition that’s been here all 50 years. With preparation that begins long before the sandwiches are served.
“We start preparing the weekend after we finish here. We keep planning all year long for this; it’s our biggest fundraiser of the year,” said Sagona.
As thousands are expected to pack the sidewalks of Courthouse Square, organizers say the sunshine is also something to celebrate with picture-perfect weather on tap this Labor Day weekend. “The weather is just beautiful, so we have our vendors setting up now, and the people are starting to come in. Life is going to be good here in downtown Scranton,” said DiMattio.
After 50 years, there’s plenty to enjoy: the food, the family, the flavors, and, of course.
“Don’t forget the cannolis. That’s it,” added Padula.
La Festa runs through Labor Day weekend. For more information on hours, click here.