When the crowds hit the Drive in search of pizza pie… well, that’s amore.
There’s more than ever to love about Italian Day this year, as more than 200 businesses and vendors prepare to take over 14 car-free blocks of Commercial Drive.
Prepare for live music and theatre, dance groups, street performers, displays of classic cars, kids entertainment and plenty of Italian cucina to graze on, from salumi to gelato and cannoli. Organizers are expecting north of 300,000 people to attend the event on Sunday (June 11), making it Vancouver’s largest cultural street festival.
This year’s festivities take the theme of amore, one of the defining aspects of the Italian outlook on life.
“Amore lies at the foundation of Italian culture,” says Italian Day Festival Society executive director Brunella Gaudio. “If you’re in Italy or in a community environment where there are a lot of Italians, you’ll always hear in conversation, ‘amore,’ ‘amore’.”
The theme will take a literal form at the festival, with hearts featuring prominently in the street décor, stilt performers dressed as the gods of love and areas of pavement kept open for revellers to write love poems in chalk.
But Gaudio, who was raised near the Drive by Italian parents, says Italian Day is also about embracing the wider community with this expression of love.
“We extend this philosophy from the Italian culture and make it more of a universal embrace,” she says.
As part of Italian Heritage Month, Italian Day will also offer insights into the Italian community’s past on the Drive and its contribution to the growth of Vancouver. One of Gaudio’s highlights this year is an exhibit by the Vancouver Public Library called Story City, which presents stories from Italo-Canadians about the early days of the Drive.
This connects with Canada’s 150th birthday celebrations by integrating stories from the city’s other ethnic communities, Gaudio says, making it a celebration of Canada’s cultural mosaic. (It’s worth remembering, too, that the Drive’s full range of ethnic diversity is on display on Italian Day.)
The event itself, which was revived in 2010 after an almost 30-year break, is steeped in nostalgia for many long-term business owners and residents of the Drive.
Kalena’s Shoes, which has been family-run on the Drive since 1967, always sees a welcome boom in business on Italian Day. But for Vera Lena Casellato, who, with her brothers, runs the store their grandparents set up, the day is more about culture, family, community and how they have converged on Commercial for generations.
“I remember being at the festival as a 12-year-old girl selling wallets at the front of the store, with my grandfather sitting beside me counting the cash,” Casellato says. “Now I go to the festival and my children are out there at the table, helping customers.
“You really get that sense of history and culture, and everybody’s friendly. It’s one of those things we look forward to every year.”
While recognizing the importance of the past, organizers have also been keen to inject modern Italian names to the event.
Among more than 20 performers on the day is songwriter Danilo Ciaccia – who will perform a mix of covers and original songs at Grandview Park – and two popular DJs from national Italian radio.
DJ Osso will be spinning his trademark mash up of genres, from Italian classics to commercial house and hits from the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, while co-host Pippo Lorusso will be delivering some standup themed around the Italian family and why Italians are loved across the world.
It’s obvious the pair are excited about their upcoming, weeklong trip; it’s 6am in Rome when the Westender calls and they’re giggling and joking, taking turns to look up Google Translate — and they haven’t even had their morning espresso.
“Italian people that stay in Vancouver, I think they will feel better when they listen to music that reminds them of Italy,” Lorusso says. “There are many songs that make them remember their past. We want to bring them Italian music with love, with life, passion and nostalgia.
“There is emotion in my show, we talk about Italian style, Italian family, about the difference between the past and today,” he adds.
Lorusso and DJ Osso will be performing at a special Italian Corner stage on 5th Avenue, which will also feature Cannoli King, Bella Gelateria and a display of Vespas. It’s one of several stages and “pocket attractions” that will be set up the length of the Drive to spread out the day’s entertainment.
Then there’s the food. This is one of those events that makes you wish you had four stomachs, particularly with the availability of some more exclusive treats such as fried donuts, arancini and the Roman lemoncocco drink. In between, there’ll be seemingly no end to the pastas, pizzas, panini and pastries on offer.
“The Italian culture has always been around the kitchen table with food and family and friends,” says Michael Cuccione, a festival society board member who helped revive the event in 2010.
“I guess we’re doing that same thing in a different way, with 14 blocks over Commercial Drive, having a big, huge kitchen table and inviting a lot of friends and neighbours.”
Now that’s amore.
