News

Manchester’s huge Italian festival Festa Italiana returns in August – here’s what to expect

Georgina Pellant Georgina Pellant - 28th July 2023

Festa Italiana, the UK’s biggest Italian food festival hosted annually in Manchester, will return for its sixth season this August bank holiday weekend.

The free-to-attend event, which every year brings together some of the best Italian food traders from across Greater Manchester, has revealed this year’s line-up of food, drinks and culture as it gears up to take over Cathedral Gardens once again.

The brainchild of Maurizio Cecco, the Neapolitan chef behind family-run Manchester restaurant group Salvi’s, every year Fest Italiana brings together Manchester’s huge Italian community for a three-day knees up in at its Cathedral Gardens home.

This year, the festival is mixing it up with brand-new additions to its much-loved programme, including Friday’s Festa Italiana Della Donna – a full day dedicated to outstanding female cooks including Cucina Con Sofia, Carmela’s Kitchen, Salvi’s head chef Valentina Ambrosino, and Claire and Maurizio’s daughter Sienna Cecco – and a grand dining experience, curated with Italian brewery Poretti. 

Speaking on the upcoming 2023 festival, Maurizio said: “This year Festa Italiana is all about celebrating our huge Festa family. We’re delighted to introduce Friday’s Della Donna, and of course the very special Poretti Grande Tavola dining experience, which will gather diners around a huge table, transporting them straight to beautiful Naples.

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“We have also prepared a feast of authentic Italian food, drink and entertainment, with fully vegan and gluten free options. Our menu is brimming with love and we can’t wait to welcome visitors from across the city into our little Italy right in the heart of Manchester.”

2023 Festa Italiana line-up highlights

festa italiana
Image: Festa Italiana
festa italiana
Image: Festa Italiana

Festa Italiana Della Donna

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This year, Festa Italiana is set for a powerful opening day with the brand-new Festa Italiana Della Donna, where three outstanding women will take centre stage to showcase their craft.

Proud MasterChef UK 2021 contestant and inspiring Culinary Generations winner, chef Sofia Gallo, will be passing down her family knowledge to Festa audiences with a live cooking demo at. Pastaia and Festa regular Carmela Sereno Hayes will be sharing her personal take on the art of fresh pasta making. There will also be cooking demos by Salvi’s head chef Valentina Ambrosino, and Claire and Maurizio’s daughter Sienna Cecco, with details to be announced.

Claire Wheeler, Managing Director and Salvi’s matriarch, said: “Creating a platform for women in such a male-dominated sphere is important to us because, as much as we love creating traditions, we also love breaking them and starting afresh.”

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Poretti Grande Tavola

Bringing something new to Festa Italiana 2023, Birrificio Angelo Poretti is hosting the ultimate ticketed dining experience on Saturday 26th August.

Festival goers can pull up a chair and enjoy a classic Italian menu from Salvi’s that has been curated to pair perfectly with Poretti and sip on the authentic Italian lager from Poretti’s iconic airstream – from a delicious Italian Fritto Misto, including an array of Neapolitan street food dishes such as fried courgette flowers, stuffed olives, croquettes, and more, to a beautiful lemon sorbet.

Poretti has been elevating mealtimes for over 140 years so what better way to showcase the lager than at the UK’s largest Italian food festival. Not only can guests enjoy a glorious sit-down meal, Poretti’s beer sommelier will be on hand to explain why each dish, curated by Salvi’s, pairs perfectly with Poretti.

This experience is a ticketed event on Saturday 26th August and the area is then open to all on Sunday 27th August, where visitors can gather, grab a Poretti and dine on their favourite food from the festival food vendors. Buy tickets to Birrificio Angelo Poretti’s Grande Tavolahere

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Live Cooking Masterclasses – Festa Marquee (free)


On Saturday 26 August, there will be a masterclass and book signing from Italian cooking superstar and Parmigiano Reggiano’s UK brand ambassador, Gennaro Contaldo (Saturday Kitchen, Two Greedy Italians, Jamie and Jimmy’s Friday Night Feast). He is followed by TV star and restaurateur Giancarlo Caldesi (Returning to Tuscany, Saturday Kitchen, Sunday Brunch), who will bring his Caldesi cookery school and endless charm to the Festa masses. 

Sunday 27 August will see an encore masterclass from Gennaro, while Great British Bake Off 2021 winner, author, and proud Britalian, Giuseppe Dell’Anno dives into the world of bread and cakes.

Street Food

Image: T’arricrii
Image: T’arricrii

Firing up the authentic Neapolitan ovens will be local legends and traditional pizza-makers I Knead Pizza, alongside the award-winning and proved to perfection, Proove.

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For the first time ever, Festa will also welcome sustainable pizza champions Purezza who will challenge the preconceptions of authentic Italian food, delivering full of flavour, fully vegan pizza with gluten-free options available. 

The Pasta Factory will be serving up fresh handmade pasta, cooked according to the family recipe books. Priding themselves in traditional homemade sauces, they will also feature vegan options, one of which is well-loved vegan parmesan. Pasta La Vista.

Bringing classic Sicilian street food to the heart of Manchester will be T’arricrii, serving specialty arancini, alongside much-loved freshly-imported Polara drinks, while anyone with a sweet tooth can head over to Cafè Cannoli and Prendi Il Biscotto, who will bring an extensive range of hand-made Italian cannoli and biscuits. 

Luxury gelato parlour Grandpa Greene’s will once again be serving classic Italian ice cream out of their signature truck, with a surprise charity Festa Italiana collaboration flavour, the full proceedings of which will go to The Christie NHS Foundation Trust.

In keeping with tradition, Salvi’s will be serving sweet treats and branded Salvi’s delights brought in from their Deli. 

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Bars

In addition to its extensive Grande Tavola dining experience, Italian brewery  Biriffico Angelo Poretti will be serving craft pints from its beautiful Poretti Piazza airstream. 

Festa fans will also be treated to a brand-new spritz bar serving a selection of authentic Italian aperativi, including summer hits Aperol Spritz, Campari Spritz, and Limoncello Spritz, with a surprise cocktail to keep things fresh.

With a dedicated bar this year, Birra Murano will be inviting Festa goers to take a moment to appreciate the magical atmosphere with a clean, crisp and refreshing Italian-style pilsner.

Plus, the Salvi’s festival bar will be serving Italian craft beer, DOP-stamped wine, and, of course, glasses of Prosecco. 

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Image: Festa Italiana
festa italiana
Image: Festa Italiana

Music

Italian-turned-Manchester-favourites Compagnia Sole Luna will once again be flying in from scorching Naples to provide a traditional Neapolitan folk music, revisited in a folk-rock style.

The music under the Festa sky will also feature local artists and bands, including the city’s best-loved opera singer The Manchester Tenor, Mojoband, and more. 

Families

Carmela’s KitchenPasta maestra Carmela Sereno Hayes is back with ‘Carmela’s Kitchen’ across the entire weekend, with free drop-in sessions, teaching pasta-loving adults and kids alike how to make beautiful AND delicious fresh pasta from scratch. 

Featured image – Festa Italiana

News

30 years ago, the IRA detonated a 1,500kg lorry bomb on Corporation Street in the heart of Manchester – here’s the story

Georgina Pellant Georgina Pellant History behind the IRA bomb in Manchester city centre

Today marks three whole decades since an explosion from the inside of a lorry parked on Corporation Street shattered windows and destroyed buildings across the city centre.

Causing an evisceration that stretched for miles, when the 1,500 kilogram IRA bomb went off in 1996, it was the biggest detonation in Great Britain since the Second World War.

Following the explosion, the city fell silent – leaving rack, rubble and ruin in its wake. Famously, one red post box was left standing – today fitted with a memorial plaque in remembrance of the tragedy.

It seems scary to think that back then, most people could only stand there, watch on and worry.

mcr ira attack
Credit: Manchester Libraries archive

The bomb caused an estimated £700 million worth of damage to Manchester’s infrastructure and economy, and over a quarter of a century later, locals still tell the stories of where they were when it went off – and of the devastation it left behind.

Notably, one resident of the Cromford Court maisonettes on top of the Arndale – a 77-year-old RAF veteran suffering from the flu – didn’t even bother to get up when the telephone warning to evacuate hit, considering himself to have survived much worse feats during his time in military service.

Having been a rear gunner in a Lancaster in the war, he reportedly told police and authorities “he was buggered if he was going to let a small bomb affect him.”

In subsequent years, Danny O’Neill has become a part of an urban legend surrounding the bomb as his staggering story has been told time and time again.

Around 90 minutes prior to the detonation, the Provisional Irish Republican Army had telephoned in warnings – meaning that around 75,000 people were able to be evacuated from the area before the bomb went off from the back of a van.

However, the bomb squad were unable to defuse it in time, leading to over 200 injuries from people still left in the area.

Thankfully, despite those injuries, there were no fatalities, and many of those reported traumas came from the shattering of thousands of windows and other damage to buildings in which unsuspecting people were getting on with their days.

Several buildings near the explosion were damaged beyond repair and had to be demolished, while many more were closed for months for structural repairs, and this prompted the biggest regeneration of Manchester city centre ever – something that is still continuing to this day, arguably at a more rapid rate than ever.

The city lay dormant for days after the explosion, as people came to terms with what had happened and kept their distance. Many moved out of the centre for a period of time, while many more simply decided not to visit for fear of another incident.

It was a desolate place, eerily quiet, and in need of some serious TLC.

According to Home Office statistics, an estimated 400 businesses within half a mile (0.8 km) of the 1996 blast were affected, 40% of which did not recover.

corporation street bomb
arndale bomb
Credit: Manchester Libraries

Market Street – near the explosion and at that time the second-busiest shopping street in the UK – was considered by some a “fearful” place, and one that was to be “avoided like the plague”.

The prospect of pulling Manchester’s bustling city centre out of its darkest depression was not casually approached by those in charge.

It was acknowledged as a mammoth task from the get-go, but Greater Manchester has never let anything get in its way. Despite how steep the hill is that we’re standing at the base of, we always manage to reach the peak, ready to go again.

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Featured Images – Supplied/Courtesy of Manchester Libraries

News

Manchester City Council green-light new venue at Medlock Square, with Mamma Mia! The Party to open the immersive space

Danny Jones Danny Jones New venue opening at Medlock Square Etihad Campus Mamma Mia The Party debut

The smash-hit ‘Mamma Mia: The Party’ is set to land in Manchester next year as the maiden event of another brand-new space set to open as part of the upcoming Medlock Square development.

Etihad Campus has seen a lot of moving pieces over the past few years, be it the building of Co-op Live, the ongoing expansion of Man City’s home ground, the soon-to-launch hotel attached to the stadium and now Medlock.

But those in control of the land are content with stopping there; this looks to be just the start of a whole new evolution for the East Manchester area, with an as yet untitled new immersive arts, experience and events venue also set to join the new slate of projects.

You see another glimpse of the purpose-built mini arena, of sorts, down below.

new arts venue at medlock square manchester
Credit: Medlock Square (publicity pictures)

With plans having now been approved by the City Council, the ‘immersive’ space will be situated between the Etihad, Co-op Live and Medlock Square itself, holding up to 600 guests per performance.

Currently set to open in late 2027, following the rest of the square’s launch window being fully rolled out, we still don’t know the name of this next addition, but the structure itself will dovetail with the surrounding buildings and areas as part of seasonal activations, live shows and sports screenings, as well as pop-ups, brand collaborations and more.

Looping back, the interactive, multimedia extravaganza that is ‘Mamma Mia! The Party’ will finally be making its Manc debut as part of the 10th anniversary of the all-singing, all-dancing and even all-dining in-demand production.

As per an official press release from the Medlock Square media team, the show will combine “live music, theatre, food and storytelling” and “offer visitors an unforgettable night out.”

The original UK production at The O2 in London has now surpassed more than 1,500 performances, with a total of 700k guests attending these shows in 110 countries across the globe. Safe to say it’s rather popular.

As for Medlock Square and the surrounding Etihad Campus, Manchester City supporters have also been given another look at the soon-to-open, immersive hotel tie-in experience.

With a skywalk, rooftop bar, a new MCFC shop and various other bits set to spill out onto Medlock Square, it all feels like a period of wholesale changes over in the blue half of the city – especially with the football club bidding farewell to their manager Pep Guardiola after more than a decade.

Following the new and improved North Stand being named after him in the first of many tributes, the City Football Group (CFG) are also set to commission a statue in his honour over the coming months.

Meanwhile, Medlock Square is also due to open later this year, although an official completion date has not been confirmed.

You can stay up to date with all the latest on Mamma Mia! The Part’s Manchester shows right HERE.

Not forgetting a brand-new women’s football facility, too, there is so much stuff going on over at the Etihad that it can be hard to keep track, but here’s the latest look at some of the rooms set to feature in the hotel of the same name.

First look at the lavish two-storey penthouse hotel suite opening at the Etihad campus
See more here.

Read more:

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images — Publicity pictures (CGIs via Medlock Square)

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