‘Everybody’s Italian’ at Syracuse’s culinary celebration Festa Italiana
Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox.
Subscribe to our newsletter here.
Alex Travers and Div Kirti sampled a variety of Italian American staples at this year’s Festa Italiana.
On Saturday, they tried a chicken parmesan sandwich from Mama B’s and Mama C’s, meatballs from Avicolli’s Coal Fire stand and classic Italian desserts, like tiramisu and sfogliatella, from Biscotti Café & Pastry Shop.
But on Sunday, after Kirti ate a leftover piece of Biscotti’s sfogliatella with her morning coffee, Travers and Kirti came back to the festival.
“I’m not Italian, but I love cultural festivals. I love that Syracuse has so many of them, and there’s so much good food in the city,” Kirti said. “When there’s an opportunity for it to all be congregated in one place, I need to bring my fork.”
Held outside Syracuse City Hall, the 28th annual Festa Italiana ran from Friday to Sunday, highlighting Italian American foods, heritage and traditions. Representatives from authentic Italian eateries in Syracuse, like Christiano’s Kitchen and Big MaMa’s Cheesecake Co. showed up at the festival. Complete with live traditional Italian music, a meatball-eating contest, bocce ball, a new biscotti cookie contest and more, the festival is another thread of the rich Italian American history that’s home to Syracuse.
Family has always been essential to Festa Italiana. Ginnie Lostumbo’s family started the festival 28 years ago. After serving on the board every year since, Lostumbo’s been the president of Festa Italiana for the last 10 years.
Since its inception, all of the festival’s earnings have gone to local food pantries, charities and students’ tuition. This year, 150 people volunteered at Festa Italiana. Nobody gets paid. To Lostumbo — whose family originates from Calabria and Avellion, Italy — the festival means “community, friendship and love of our heritage.” Everybody’s Italian for the weekend, she said.
WHAT YOU SHOULD READ NEXT
The Wedge serves cheese-centric ‘food and booze’ in homey Syracuse setting
Located in Eastwood, The Wedge is a cheese-focused restaurant with a specialized wine and cocktail menu and rotating entrés.
Jose Jasmins, who’s volunteered at the festival for 18 years, worked at a food booth organized by the Festa Italiana committee this year. Jasmins’ family roots trace back to Portugal. And he said the event, like a Portuguese festival he used to attend in New Jersey, is family-based.
“I do see a lot of unity, a lot of love and people just being themselves and just loving their culture,” Jasmins said.
For Travers, returning on Sunday meant he didn’t have to wait until Christmastime to eat braciole — thinly sliced meat stuffed and rolled up with cheese, breadcrumbs and garlic. Travers usually makes the dish with his mom around the holidays, but Vito’s Ristorante brought Christmas months early.
“I was like, ‘They had braciole. It was sold out at the other place, and we didn’t get any yesterday, so we got to come back, even if it’s just for that,’” Travers said. “It was great. (Vito’s) did not disappoint.”
Kirti, who graduated from Syracuse University in 2022 with a masters degree, has visited the festival every year since her SU days, but this was Travers’ first time. Travers — whose great-grandmother was from Italy — plans to attend the festival again next year and hopes it continues to grow.
John Cerrone, who’s a Festa Italiana board member, oversees the heritage tent. All around the tent is filled with poster boards and vintage photos of Italian businesses and generations of Italian families in Syracuse. Cerrone even included a copy of his parents’ April 24, 1926, wedding photo.
On the wall of the photos of different businesses, Cerrone included a photo of Mento Produce, which was started by an Italian immigrant with a cart and horse in the early-20th century. Now, the Syracuse business still exists and is run by a fifth generation of Mentos. Cerrone’s father, who came to the United States in 1919 as a lone 17-year-old from Circello, Italy, even knew a member of the Mento generation that founded it.
“As a kid, I used to love to be a fly on the wall when all the adults were talking about the old stories and the history, things in Italy and what they did when they came here. I was like a sponge,” Cerrone said. “I loved hearing that, and I always thought I wanted to just make sure that stayed alive.”
A meatball tower, chicken parmesan sandwiches and deep-fried ravioli are among the menu items at Mama B’s and Mama C’s. In addition to food vendors, the 28th annual Festa Italiana featured live Italian music and bocce ball. Kai Pavlova | Staff Photographer
Now, Cerrone is a grandfather of six, and he retells those stories dozens of times to his grandchildren.
When Cerrone’s parents hosted Sunday dinners decades ago, he said they would keep adding plates to the table; nobody was ever turned away. Just like those meals decades ago, everyone is welcome at the Festa Italiana, Cerrone said. The heritage tent even housed cooking demonstrations during the festival, like spinach lasagna roll-ups, chicken riggies and Mediterranean-style pasta salad with vegan salami.
“We have 15 vendors this year. I love walking down there just reading the menus because it brings back all those memories,” Cerrone said. “My mother was a terrific cook, and all those wonderful smells, it just brings you right back.”
Joe Sidoni, a first-year volunteer who’s attended the festival since its beginning, worked at the same booth as Jasmins. One of the staple items was a Gianelli Sausage sandwich, with ingredients donated by the G&L Davis Meat Co.
Sidoni, whose heritage traces back to Calabria and Aquila, Italy, already signed up to volunteer next year. He said it’s important for Festa Italiana to continue to celebrate Italian culture in Syracuse.
“I think the further we go through the years, your children lose that connection of their roots, the familiar roots back to Europe,” Sidoni said. “I have three kids, and when they were little, I brought all three of them in strollers down here.”
On Saturday night, one of Sidoni’s sons brought his two kids to the festival, keeping the Italian celebration alive through several generations of Sidonis.
This year’s iteration introduced a new concept featured inside the heritage tent: the Legacy Wall. Attendees could make monetary donations in their family name, in memory of a dead loved one or in honor of a living person. On Sunday morning at the festival’s main stage, Bishop Douglas Lucia celebrated a Sunday Mass, which honored 10 past volunteers who have died.
“All the volunteers are all nationalities, so that’s it. We become friends,” Lostumbo said. “So we’ve been doing it for many years. Our vendors have been with us for many years. We’re like a big family.”
