FESTIVAL
La Dolce Vita!
The Italian Festival brings its culture to Downtown Phoenix By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
T
he Italian Festival of America is bringing its celebration of food, culture and entertainment to Downtown Phoenix after several years in Scottsdale. Italophiliacs can experience la dolce vita with two stages of entertainment, including cooking demonstrations; musical entertainment featuring Italian flag wavers and dancing; Peroni Nastro Assuro’s interactive displays; Classico Fine Wines & Spirits’ drinks; and the Italian Auto d’Eleganza showcase of fine Italian automobiles. A portion of proceeds benefits the nonprofit Italian Association of Arizona and its mission to build an Italian Cultural Center. “We moved to Phoenix for a lot of reasons, the biggest being the crowds were getting bigger and we were running into space issues,” says Frank Guzzo, Italian Association of Arizona executive director. “We don’t want to move it every year. We want to be in one location and build it from there. We started talking to the city of Phoenix and Downtown Phoenix Inc. and we all made the decision to move the festival to Downtown Phoenix. “Downtown Phoenix is exploding. It’s be-
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come such a vibrant place, compared to 10 years ago. We do want to capture the same people who have been coming to our festival for the past six years, plus a whole new demographic.” The organization also partnered with the Scottsdale Airpark’s R Entertainment to help with the event’s production. “They’re responsible for some of the bigger events,” Guzzo says. “We brought them on board through one of our board members.” Guzzo says the f lag wavers—A.S.T.A. Gruppo Sbandieratori del Palio di Asti—have been a crowd favorite. This year, the group is flying from Italy with 18 performers. “It’s a whole new choreographed program,” he says. The Sicilian Band will play Italian folk music and The Phoenix Tenors featuring Johnny Huerta will hit the stage as well for the seventh year. The breakout star of The Italian Festival of America is Enrico Di Lauro, who appeared on “X Factor Italia” last year. “He’s this super nice, young kid. This is his U.S. debut,” he says. “We’re excited to have him here. We just got some of his music. Because of his age, he’ll not only capture the
Italian grownups, but a whole new audience. He does sing and speak in English as well.” After Di Lauro’s performance, DJ Paul Amendola will spin from about 7:30 to 9 p.m. “We’ll be dancing and having a good time,” he says. “We’re really making it a street party,
