Festa Italiana Celebrates Milwaukee's Italian Heritage With Style, Great Cuisine & Rock & Roll!

This year's Festa Italiana exceeded all expectations, featuring a wonderful blend of authentic Italian name acts as well as some of the hottest US musical headliners.

In addition to the must-listen traditional Italian vocal groups, the brain-trust behind Festa Italiana delighted audiences with some tremendously talented wild-cards that included awe-inspiring opera singers. 
Headlining the Spiked Island Stage for example, were superstar acts like Matt Nathanson and Grammy Nominated Plain White T's from nearby Chicago.

Festa Italiana is hosted at the famous Summerfest Grounds and has something for everyone, including panoramic ski lift rides that cover the span of the entire grounds, romantic Gondola rides that replicate old Italy and recreate the authentic feel of a Gondola ride down the river. The Festa Italiana staff set up the Gondola rides in a cove adjacent to Lake Michigan that provides a beautiful three dimensional perspective of Lake Michigan just beyond the cove's island leading to the Gondola activities. A perfect respite or break for relaxation which you don't typically find in a fair grounds setting.

What would an ethnic festival be like without great food? Festa Italiana was nothing less than spectacular with a myriad of tasty culinary choices. Accompanying me on our maiden voyage to Festa Italiana were my daughter, Lauren Rose along with Master gourmet Chef's George Schubert and Faith Fillippi, two culinary wizards who can size up the particulars on what it takes to create edibles that entice the food pallet.

Needless to say, all four of us were impressed with the high quality, variety and healthy options that worked in sync with several of the dessert/splurge options that became available.

We were fortunate to taste test and sample culinary delights from Divino, whose proprietor's Dean Cannestra and his lovely wife. Out of all the tremendous food choices, their restaurant truly stood out due to the consistent quality and versatility. Between the delectable Shrimp Scampi, Calamari and incredible chicken/pasta, there was no turning back, however the dark-horse had to be the surprising rice balls-a gourmet eater's best moment! Even the Divino presentation was mouth-watering, with a vast array of wonderful pasta's, tantalizing garlic seasonings and all flavors working in sync, even the pickiest of appetites would be satisfied! Dean and Co, also led the charge (and I mean this literally, because he was dressed in garbs from ancient Italy) to the Cannoli eating contest that had both men and women competing to see who could eat the most Cannoli's in record time.

For confirmed "Foodies" Divino's clearly made their mark on a weekend when the competition for attendee's food buck was fierce-in a good natured way. With the popularity of Festa Italiana, every proprietor was a winner, especially their customers! Be sure to stop by Divino at: 2315 N. Murray Ave. in Milwaukee or call: 414-212-2222 (great #!) for more information.

What would an Italian festival be without dessert(s)?
The answer to that all-important question is Peter Sciortino's Bakery, Festa's answer to deliciousness...in spades! Led by the lovely Rhiana, my entourage was led directly to their sacred kitchen behind the bakery, where we received a demonstration in perpetual "YUM" as Rhiana and her team of professional Cannoli creator's cranked out creamy, old-world traditional Cannoli's with a twist: According to Rhiana, their Cannoli's are smoother than the "common Cannoli." Rhiana and her team backed up her statement with the proof being in the smoothest, creamiest filling, this Reporter has ever tasted! My group was treated to both the white Cannoli filling and the chocolate Cannoli (which was voted "best of" the Festa by my brood.

To learn the secrets to Sciortino's/Rhiana's family secret to the perfect Cannoli and why theirs stands out above their competitor's Cannoli's, watch the enclosed video-it's  must-see TV!

Rhiana also insisted we taste their delightfully light and tasty Italian Cookies and their off-the-charts hand made Eclair's-like the hand-rolled custom created Cannoli's-once again, made with the attention to flavor and visually enticing to add up to our being the proverbial "kids in the candy store" dream! (See the attached pictures and than make the bee-line to Sciortino's Bakery at 1101 Brady St. in Milwaukee or go to: www.petersciortinosbakery.com to order or cater your next party. Their prices are more than fair, considering how this family takes personal pride and care to satisfy even the most discriminating dessert pallet. 

In addition to the authenticity and attention to detail that went into organizing a major event like Festa Italiana, plus all the vendors who provided a rainbow of great products and souvenirs , the highlight of any festival is still the music and Festa outdid themselves by attracting headliners like Matt Nathanson & Plain White T's. In fact, Matt Nathanson is technically a headliner in his own right, so audiences were essentially treated to two headliner's in the same evening.

During the backstage meet & greet, Matt scored plenty of brownie points with his fans and the press alike with his affable, down to earth attitude, even going out of his way to ask his fans how they were and how they themselves were enjoying the Festa Italiana-so it wasn't just about himself. A nice touch and a classy move by a genuinely great guy who also showed he has the goods to put forth a darn great concert. By the time Nathanson was a third through his set, the Spiked Island Stage was packed to the hilt-and Nathanson didn't disappoint. He took the audience through a tapestry of stories and ballads that included hits like: "Come On Get Higher" "Angel" "Modern Love" and so many more. Halfway through Nathanson's set, he had the crowd eating out of his hand, singing and clapping in time to his hooky tunes-the perfect live opener who again, could have easily head-lined. Kudo's to the Festa Italiana staff for having the Gravitas to procure Matt Nathanson as their opening act to Plain White T's. 

During the backstage introduction to Plain White T's, the guys were in good spirits, with lead singer, Tom Higgenson and me sharing some camaraderie over our Batman symbolism-I had my (ironically enough) Batman "T" on and he had on a Batman button on his leather jacket that he pointed to (see the photo enclosed in my gallery) so we had a good laugh over that.

Once the lights hit the stage, Plain White T's tore it up by cranking out a virtual best of featuring songs from LP's like "Come On Over," "Stop,"
"All That We Needed," "Every Second Counts," "Big Bad World" and of course "Wonders of The Younger."

The crowd was whipped to a frenzy by this point in the evening and by the time Higgenson and his crew played the intro to "Hey There Delilah," their quintessential hit, it was game, set match. Plain White T's underscored why they are still relevant as well as a continued musical force to be reckoned with.

The Festa Italian Staff was professional and friendly from top to bottom, their PR whiz, Jessica Vollrath showed why her PR firm is considered one of the preeminent public relations "Go-To" in the Midwest. Suffice it to say, anyone who entered the Summerfest Grounds to celebrate Festa Italiana was treated to an unforgettable weekend of great food, friends and music. 

Bravissimo!