Tampa Restaurant To Host First Sicilian Carnevale Festival

TAMPA, FL — Casa Santo Stefano, 1607 N. 22nd Street, hosts its first annual Carnevale celebration, a Sicilian and Italian tradition, starting Saturday.

“It’s essentially the Sicilian version of Mardi Grad, a lead-up to Ash Wednesday,” Jeff Houck, vice president of marketing for the 1905 Family of Restaurants, which owns Columbia, Casa Santo Stefano and other brands, told Patch.

Starting Saturday, the Ybor City restaurant will feature a special menu, live entertainment — including music and balloon art — and Donnafugata wines, as well as the more than 250 varieties of Sicilian wine on the menu.

The festival runs through March 4.

“We’re making a big push to bring that Sicilian tradition to Santo Stefano,” Houck said. “If you look at Carnevale, it’s like giant painted puppets marching through the streets. We’re not going that far, but it’s going to be a lot of fun and a delicious way to celebrate that Sicilian and Italian tradition.”