La Festa

Through an article featured in The Herald it was brought to our attention that since the Casa D'Italia in Glasgow closed its doors there has been no focal point for the large Scots-Italian contingent that reside here. The suggestion in the piece was for Scots-Italians to put on a one day festival to celebrate our culture and history. A suggestion has been to call this event simply La Festa.

Radio Scotland has even taken up the mantle with a small feature on the 2nd of November 2004 promoting La Festa. Talk of La Festa also appeared in the Evening Times.

Now, providing this takes off, then why could this not become a yearly event, rotating around various locations throughout the country.

Obviously we'd need an organising committee to channel their enthusiasm and energy into the detail, location, cost and content of such a project. This I believe should be open to everyone, and would hope that Scots-Italians would provide a large contribution.

Once this has been decided, the committee should arrange a date, possibly four to six months in advance, and one that doesn't clash with any major event for example.

A choice of venue is imperative, a marquee in a public park, or a church or school ground for example.

These are just some ideas I've bandied around, if you think this could take off or even better are willing to help make it take off, perhaps your company can offer some form of sponsorship, then please email and we'll see what we can rustle up.

La Festa - potential activities and ideas......

Actively involve Scottish Italian Businesses/People/Celebrities for contributions etc,.
Nominate an MC and include Guest Speaker.
Organise a Carnival procession including floats and dancers (examining possible input from Viareggio and Venice Carnivals).
Determine if there exist any grants for such a project.
Local Schools should become involved. For example get the children to draw famous Italian landmarks.
Wine Tasting (sponsors for this event could be vineyards, importers, supermarkets).
Stalls featuring Food/Drink/Crafts, could be for Sale in which case 20% of sales donated back to the committee funds does not seem unreasonable.
Exhibitions of local Dance/Costume/Customs.
Competitions such as cheese rolling (tiro della forma).
Tombola, with donations as prizes.
Card Competition (Briscola, Canasta etc.).
Charity Football Match (ie. Italy Vs Scotland) (prior to event).
Function Fund Raising Dinner (prior to event).
Screening of a classic Italian Movie (GFT?) (prior to event - percentage of sales going to committee funds).
Eating/Drinking area, bier-keller style to accommodate large numbers, possibly with catwalk for fashion show (sponsors). Perhaps include a dancing area.
Main Competition - Holiday to Italy (sponsor).
Montage of Old Photographs/Items, first settlers (look for contributions).
Italian Group or Singer.
Guess the number of Coffee Beans in a jar (look for a sponsor for this event).
The piece de resistance, Ice Cream Van, of course.