Phoenix Italian Festival Features Music, Food, Wine This Weekend

PHOENIX, AZ — The 7th Italian Festival will celebrate Italian culture, including food, wine, art and cars, this weekend in downtown Phoenix.

Sponsored by the Italian Association of Arizona, the festival will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Saturday and 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sunday at Heritage Square, located at East Adams Street and N 7th St.

The festival kicks off with a parade and opening ceremony at 11:30 a.m. Saturday and will feature a live performance by the Sbandieratori del Palio di Asti, the flag-wavers from the city of Asti in Italy's Piemonte region.

According to organizers, visitors will be able to taste some of the best Italian food in the Valley, like gelato, pizza, sausages, pasta, cannoli and wine.

Restaurants scheduled to attend the event, include:

• Aiello's,
• Aroma Culinary Catering
• Bored Baker Pizza Maker
• Costantino's
• D'Amico (Pizza & Pasta)
• Fabio on Fire
• Gelato Dolce Vita
• Guido's Chicago Deli
• L'impasto Wood Fired Pizza
• Little Italy of Scottsdale
• Lulu Sorbeto
• Nonna's
• Pasta Rea
• Re di Roma Wood Fired Pizza
• Scrumptious

The festival also will feature an art gallery with local and international Italian art, the concours d'elegance will have restored collector Italian automobiles and motorcycles, and there will be face painters and balloon artists for the kids.

Music and dancing will take place throughout the weekend, including a 7 p.m. Saturday night concert where attendees can dance in the street.

Scheduled to perform during the weekend are:

• Italian Folk Dancers
• Steve Ansel and his orchestra, The Jackson Street Band
• The Sicilian Band
• D-Gala – Phoenix's Tenors

General admission tickets are $15 and are available online. Children 12 and under are free. Those who purchased tickets to the 2020 festival, which was canceled due to the pandemic, can gain entry to this weekend's festival if they bring their confirmation email (from 2020) and proper ID.

The Convention Parking Garage East is the dedicated garage for the festival. The main entrance is located at 601 E Washington St., the secondary entrance is at 602 E Jefferson Street.

Visitors can download a $10 parking voucher online and bring it with them for the discounted rate.

More information is available on the festival website.