Italian Day taking over Commercial Drive this Sunday

Jun 7 2016, 1:03 am

Let your tastebuds start tingling! Vancouver’s annual Italian Day is set to pack Commercial Drive with pasta, pizza and partygoers again this Sunday.

Italian Day is Vancouver’s largest cultural street festival, with more than 300,000 people expected to fill 13 blocks along the Drive, to celebrate Italian food, drink, music and more.

This year’s theme is Mangiamo! (Let’s Eat!) and festival goers are invited to enjoy the warmth of the traditional Italian tavola and the pleasures of beautiful Italian cuisine. There’ll be pizza, pasta, cannoli, arancini, salumi, coffee, granita and gelato on offer, in seven piazzas all along the Drive, plus music and theatre from Italian Canadian stars at three different stages.

Italian Day also holds a special meaning for the community this year, coming only a couple of months after the City of Vancouver officially recognized the Drive’s Little Italy area. In honour of that milestone achievement – and the more than 50 years of Italian heritage on Commercial Drive – eight blocks will be christened with banners and crosswalks.

One final thing to know before you go…. Don’t forget to mangia bene, ridi spesso, ama molto– eat well, laugh often, love in abundance!

Italian Day Vancouver 2016

Where: 13 blocks of Commercial Drive from Venables to Grandview Highway

When: Sunday, June 12; noon to 8 pm

More: italianday.ca

Jenni SheppardJenni Sheppard

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