The UK’s biggest Italian food festival Festa Italiana is returning to Manchester in 2021 – with Cathedral Gardens turning green, white and red over August bank holiday.
Featuring delicious pizzas, fresh pasta, sweet crepes and deli meats as far as the eye can see, Festa Italiana is known for bringing amazing street food into Manchester city centre and showcasing top Italian chefs from across the region.
First launched in 2017, the festival is promising some exciting new additions for its fourth edition – including a massive outdoor cinema.
Sponsors Peroni will be bringing a big screen down for the weekend, hosting themed screenings of classics like La Dolce Vita, Romeo and Juliet and Cinema Paradiso – so get ready to sink into bean bags and deck chairs, tuck into popcorn and sip on aperitivo cocktails or bottles of Italian lager.
The UK’s biggest Italian food festival is coming to Manchester / Image: Festa Italiana
A ‘photography exhibit surprise’ is also on the cards for Festa Italiana 2021 (more on this in due course), as well as a wide range of workshops, demonstrations, book signings and banquets.
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Top-class chefs like Aldo Zilli, Giancarlo Caldesi, Gennaro Cantaldo, specialist pasta maker and author Carmela Sereno Hayes, and Festa founder Maurizio Cecco are all confirmed to attend.
Maurizio’s 12-year-old daughter, Sienna Cecco, will also be making an appearance: leading some free cooking classes over the weekend for children.
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A talented little chef in her own right, Sienna has her own YouTube channel and developed quite a following after live-streaming family cooking lessons during the lockdown.
Salvi’s owner Maurizio Cecco founded the Italian food festival / Image: Festa Italiana
Elsewhere, Salvi’s has confirmed it will be bringing back its popular deli stand – so whether you’re after top-quality cured meats, cheeses, olive oil or cake you know where to go for the finest Italian produce.
The street food lineup for this year is still being kept under wraps for now, but with the emergence of some new Italian-inspired eateries during the lockdown, we are crossing our fingers for some fat slabs of lasagne and Italian-American deli sandwiches.
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Always a big part of the festival, previous years have seen festival founders Salvi’s churn out popular fried pizzas and fresh pasta alongside Shudehill’s Pasta Factory, Rio Ferdinand’s glitzy Italian Rosso, and sourdough West Didsbury pizzaiolos Proove.
Festa Italiana will take place at Cathedral Gardens in August / Image: Festa Italiana
Born out of Manchester’s rich Italian heritage and community, Festa Italiana will return to its home at Festival Piazza, Cathedral Gardens from August 27 – 29.
To find out more information and keep up to date on new announcements, head over to the Festa Italiana Facebook page.
Eats
The Greater Manchester book café serving literary afternoon teas and build-your-own bouquets
Daisy Jackson
If you like your afternoon tea with a side of good books, there’s a Greater Manchester café where you can quite literally have your cake and read it too.
Tucked inside this charming bookish spot, afternoon tea arrives with an unexpected twist. Rather than being presented with the usual three-tiered stand, you’re handed a stack of heavy hardback books.
But don’t start worrying that you’ve accidentally wandered into a very niche library club. The books are hiding something.
Lift the covers in Peony & Parchment – or, more accurately, open the book-shaped boxes – and you’ll discover a full afternoon tea concealed inside.
There are dainty sandwiches to get stuck into, including tiny egg mayo, herby chicken salad, ham and mustard, and cheese and tomato focaccia, alongside a little quiche.
Then comes the scone – classic, fluffy and ready for the obligatory dollop of clotted cream and jam. And, because no afternoon tea should leave you feeling like you’ve been short-changed in the cake department, there are five miniature slices to work through.
Afternoon tea concealed in a stack of booksSome of the other bakes on display
There’s a Victoria sponge with a dreamy vanilla cream, lemon drizzle, rich chocolate cake, a Bakewell slice and a pecan pie, all sourced from a local bakery just across the alleyway.
It’s all served with a pot of tea or coffee, with the option to add a glass of prosecco.
And the bookish theme doesn’t stop at the afternoon tea.
Downstairs you’ll find shelves packed with books, including the intriguing ‘blind books’. Instead of judging a book by its cover, you’ll be given clues and a short summary of what lies inside before taking a gamble on your mystery read.
Downstairs in Peony & Parchment‘Blind books’A role playing village for kids
There’s also plenty here to keep younger visitors entertained, thanks to a children’s area complete with a mini role-playing village.
And if books and cake weren’t enough, there’s another string to this café’s bow.
The Bloom Bar lets you build your own bouquet. Choose the size you want, then wander around selecting your own stems and foliage to create something that’s uniquely yours.
You can build your own bouquetThe Bloom Bar at Peony & Parchment
Of course, you don’t have to be visiting specifically for the afternoon tea. The wider menu includes tapas, full breakfasts and sandwiches, making it just as suitable for a leisurely brunch, lunch or coffee-and-cake stop.
So whether you’re there to discover your next favourite novel, assemble a bouquet, entertain the kids or simply eat your way through five different miniature cakes, this is one café where there are plenty of chapters to explore.
Major pop star crowns humble rice and three cafe as ‘Jewel of Manchester’ ahead of sold-out gig
Thomas Melia
A beloved city centre takeaway has been given the title of ‘Jewel of Manchester’ by chart-topping UK singer Sam Smith.
Known for hits like ‘Stay With Me’, ‘I’m Not The Only One’ and more recently ‘Unholy’, UK pop-ballad act Sam Smith also likes to drop a food review every once in a while.
Currently on the road with a run of shows in Manchester and London for their ‘To Be Free’ live shows, Sam Smith is stopping off at some of our city’s much-loved spots.
On their food-reviewing account titled ‘Sam Served’, where they adopt the aptly-fitting nickname ‘Ham Smith’, Sam has visited restaurants across the globe – and most recently turned their attention to Manchester’s own This & That.
Smith decided to pop in and grab a cheeky rice and three from long-standing backstreet food business This & That, and it certainly went down a treat.
After sampling their amazing selection of meat, vegetable and vegan curries, the musician crowned this family-run Indian takeaway a ‘Jewel of Manchester’.
The hitmaker described this Northern Quarter Indian eatery as ‘Everything food should be’ and definitely enjoyed all the curries on offer ‘leaving belly and heart full’.
This & That prides itself on affordable and comforting food with its ‘Rice and Three Curries’ starting from just £6 – not bad for a city centre foodie spot.
Sam has racked up an impressive 490k followers via their ‘Sam Served’ profile, with famous faces like Lily Allen, Denise Welch and CMAT all wanting to know the superstar’s foodie thoughts.
After enjoying a curry or three, Sam Smith also made sure to feed their soul to by venturing down to Afflecks and getting lost in the music at Mars Tapes.
Recognised as one of the UK’s only cassette and tape shops, Mars Tapes lets you flick through their crates of physical media and even preview tracks before you buy with its dedicated listening areas.
It’s safe to say that Smith has ‘Latched’ onto Manchester’s independent business scene and we’re here for it.
The London-born artist has just released their latest album Hazel Eyes and is currently amid a UK residency tour with two dates in Manchester’s Albert Hall and eight shows set for London Coliseum.
Georgina Pellant -
25th May 2021 
