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.
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.
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.
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
Some of best Oasis-themed offers, deals and specials happening in Manchester right now
Danny Jones
Now, just in case you weren’t getting enough Oasis stuffed down your throat this month, their homecoming reunion gigs have seen a flurry of Britpop-themed deals, offers, event day specials and promotions spring up all over Greater Manchester.
You can move for ‘Champagne Supernova’ puns, lookalikes, lasagne and all the rest of it.
However, while there are simply too many for us to keep track of, let alone list in full, there are some pretty good ones here in the city centre that have caught our attention.
Let’s get cracking then, shall we? Here are just 10 of the best Oasis-related deals and offers we’ve seen in central Manchester so far.
10 top Oasis-related deals in Manchester city centre
Once again, this is by no means a comprehensive list, but let’s get stuck in:
1. The Liquor Store is hosting Oasis parties, plus travel to Heaton Park
First off, we can’t start anywhere else than the music-loving bar that’s hosting some of the biggest pre- and post-Oasis parties in Manchester, not to mention offering coach travel to the concerts themselves: The Liqour Store.
Having popped our heads in on opening day to see what it was like, we can confirm the tunes were turned up to 11, the rays were beaming down on the Manc gig-goers, and let’s just say that their atmosphere is a woman, ‘She’s Electric.’
2. Diecast are also hosting big Britpop pre-drinks
They are, of course, not even close to being the only ones hosting special pre-drinks and after parties for the Heaton Park homecoming, and another one that caught our eye was the even bigger suntrap and beer hall over at Diecast.
Not only are they doing a ‘Champagne Supernova’ bottomless brunch for just £35 per person, which includes bottomless pizza with endless Prosecco, frozen daiquiris and lager for up to 90 mins, but the Britpop tunes will be pumping non-stop.
A simple but satisfying one next; how does a pretty mint Mexican meal deal sound? Liam Gallagher might not speak Spanish, but we know a little and all we have to say is this: ‘Si, por favor’.
It might sound daft compared to just a few short years ago, but barring a basic meal deal, it can sometimes be genuinely hard to find a really good, filling, properly tasty and affordable lunch offering in the city these days, but with a jam-packed burritos and pack of tortillas, Zambrero’s isn’t bad.
Don’t mind if we do.Hat not included. Gutting, we know.Credit: The Manc Group/Zambrero (press shot)
4. An Oasis x Deliveroo fork helps ‘keep things fresh’
Now, this is undoubtedly the most random and ridiculous, not to mention the funniest on the list. Deliveroo are celebrating quite possibly one of the most hilarious things that both Noel and, more importantly, Liam have ever said. Yes, EVER.
In order to get your hands on a limited-edition and strictly decorative fork, all you have to do is order a pint of milk using Deliveroo HOP, and you could be in with a chance of getting your hands on a very humorous collectors’ item. If you know, you know – but if you don’t, well…
Still cracks us up every time…
5. 15% off Hello Oriental for Oasis fans
We’re at the halfway point now and getting peckish once again, so it’s a good job that Hello Oriental don’t just lend the first part of their name to the Live ’25 reunion tour setlist opener but are also offering a pretty decent discount on food for Oasis fans.
For those gig-goers heading to Heaton Park for one of the three remaining Manc dates this month, you can get 15% off your bill when presenting your concert ticket. That’s your pre-show scran sorted then.
There are multiple kitchens inside the subterranean food hallSpice bagCredit: The Manc Eats
6. Complimentary bucket hats with your meal at Tampopo
From one Asian food favourite to another, if you head to Albert Square instead of Circle, you’ll be happy to know that Manchester-founded Tampopo know how big a deal it is to the Burnage boys home.
With that in mind, anyone who spends more than £20 at any of their Greater MCR locations will receive a free Tampopo x Oasis bucket hat. Say no more.
🎸🍜 What do Tampopo & Oasis have in common? We both kicked off in 90s Manchester! To celebrate Oasis coming home, spend £20+ at Tampopo & get a FREE bucket hat!
As we come to the business now, we do realise that plenty of us are still without tickets, and while we completely understand your pain, we can’t help you with spares or anything like that.
However, what we can do is point you in the direction of Printworks, who are hosting a free Oasis karaoke event for all those of you still hoping to cry your hearts to, well, ‘Stop Crying Your Heart Out’ and all the other bangers. Find out more down below.
Since it’s absolutely sizzling at the moment, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the pre-Oasis BBQ Britpop brunch (say that three times fast) that’s taking place at cult favourite Fairfield Social Club.
Not only will there big set of classic indie tracks from local legends Clint Boon and Dave Haslam, but if you pre-book, you can even get your hands on their ‘Champagne Super Saver’ deal – see, told you there was loads of them – which will score you BBQ meats and beer for a tenner.
Our penultimate pick is a bit of a different one and not one we expected, we’ll admit, but it may just get you zipping over to Heaton Park faster than you can name the most overplayed Oasis song of all time.
Yes, for anyone with a ticket for one of the Heaton Park shows, you can secure 20% off a trip to Zip World Manchester, which you’ll find in the very same place as the sea of Manc gig-goers this summer.
10. A special buy one get one free at Malmaison Deansgate
Last but not least, if the sun and the festival season vibes have you thinking ‘give me gin and tonic’, you’ll be glad to hear that a city centre hotel and bar is currently offering buy one, get one free on the classic summery drink to celebrate the Oasis fans flooding into Manchester.
We’ve seen them handing out the vouchers on the front doorstep all day, and with plenty of people staying over for the shows – not to mention making use of the main restaurant and stylish rooftop spot, Sora – enough footfall almost guarantees them keeping it up for every single date.
Malmaison has one of the most simple but effective Oasis deals in Manchester, for our money.BOGOFCredit:The Manc
Have you seen others? Let us and the good people of Greater Manchester know down in the comments.
Featured Images — The Manc Group/Press shots (supplied)
Eats
Hundreds of FREE iced drinks are being given out in Manchester city centre next week
Emily Sergeant
A popular coffee shop in Manchester will be giving away hundreds of free iced drinks to people in the city centre tomorrow.
Sure, it looks like that classic rainy Manchester weather may be making itself known this week, after what has been a month of glorious sunshine so far, but that isn’t stopping independent cafe brand, 200 Degrees, from ‘turning up the heat’ and seeing in summer in style with a refreshing giveaway this week.
To celebrate the launch of its new summer menu, the first 200 people through the doors of its central Manchester cafe will be able to get their hands a freebie.
Happening next Tuesday 22 July from 7am, the lucky city centre visitors will be given the choice of sipping on one of five new speciality iced drinks, all without having to spend a single penny.
The coffee chain says each new menu item has been curated especially for the summer, and there’s a flavour combination ‘for every palate’ – with unique creations like the Iced Pink Guava Matcha, and the Cold Brew with Vanilla Cold Foam being just a few of the freebie options set to be on offer next week.
Customers are being advised to ‘get down early’ to 200 Degrees’ site in Manchester city centre on Mosley Street if they want to stand a chance of claiming the ice-cold offer.
As well as the five new iced drinks, there’s also a bunch of new food items that’ve just been added to 200 Degrees’ menu for the summer too, so if you’re feeling a bit peckish, you can grab a seasonal bite to eat while you’re at it too.
200 Degrees is giving out hundreds of free iced drinks in Manchester next week / Credit: 200 Degrees
New food additions include a summer falafel salad packed with fresh greens, crunchy veg, and sweet potato falafel, alongside a selection of new breakfast and lunchtime offerings including the whipped feta and roasted pepper sandwich, and a bacon and brie croissant.
Sweet treats include a lemon and pistachio blondie, passionfruit ripple cake, and a vegan raspberry Bakewell.
Georgina Pellant -
25th May 2021 
