The San Diego Sicilian Festival celebrates its 20th anniversary this Sunday, May 19, in Little Italy. Beginning at 10 AM until 6 PM, India Street and surrounding thoroughfares come alive with people, culture, color, food, live music, entertainment, dancers, a car show, wine and beer garden, kids’ zone, games, arts and crafts, grape stomp and a pasta-eating contest. A day to delight and entertain the whole family Sicilian style!
Food booths will line the streets serving Sicilian specialties of all varieties, including Italian sausage, tiramisù, calzones, garlic knots, granite (shaved ice), arancini (filled rice balls), dolce rum cake, and a beer and wine garden.
Bellissimo! Car Show will display Italian manufacturers Ferrari, Fiat, Lancia, and Alfa Romeo along with car clubs and aficionados.
Four sound stages will feature non-stop entertainment. The Sicilian Tenors, direct from New York City, will headline this year’s fest starring Aaron Caruso, Elio Scaccio, and Sam Vitale. Also scheduled to perform is Roman Holiday Band, Taluna Band, Rosario Monetti and Jim Bianchi, Judy Ciotti Band, Natalie Moran vocal trio, the Screamin’ Primas, Franco Z-Z-Bop Swing Band, musical students from Point Loma Opera Theatre, Balboa Park Italian Dancers, Smmi and Tina Zein, Lou Fanucchi, Gordon Kohl, Sinatra Guy, Bobby De Phillipis, Pizzaro Brothers’ Dueling Pianos, and live jazz arranged by KSDS Jazz 88.3 FM. Please check the program for complete listings and performance times.
Don’t miss the procession which starts at 11:30 AM featuring a lively parade of costumed dancers, musicians, flag bearers, city representatives, along with several local San Diego Italian American organizations proudly joining to support Sicilian and Italian heritage.
Stop by the Sicilian Cultural Pavilion to learn about Sicilian American heritage which will show historical photos presented by Convivio Society; exhibits of San Diego’s tuna fishing industry’s past presented by the Maritime Museum of San Diego; San Diego Italian American clubs and community groups will present their organizations; Multimedia presentations include the following: Jim Bregante, San Diego’s Waterfront Through the Eyes of a Child, showing at 11:00, 1:00, and 3:00; Francesca Mignosa, My Sicily: Life in the Cusp of the Mediterranean Sea, showing at 12:00, 2:00, and 4:00.
The festival was founded by Mario Cefalu, founder of Solunto’s Bakery and past president of the Trinacria Sicilian Cultural Society, in 1993, and called it Sicilian Day. According to current event director Bernadette Tarantino, “Mario had a passion for Sicily and he wanted everybody to know about the Sicilian heritage in San Diego.”
Cefalu along with his good friend and associate Manfred Nenn were organizers and event directors until Tarantino was asked to get involved in 2004 and prior to Cefalu passing away in 2007, personally asked Tarantino to lead and continue the tradition of the Sicilian Festival together with Giovanna DiBona, entertainment director, who have done a tremendous job of preserving the festival for the masses to enjoy, learn and cherish this rich heritage. For more information please visit www.sicilianfestival.org.
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