Scranton’s Little Italy

by Nikki M. Mascali
Weekender Editor

In October 1976, a festival was put on in downtown Scranton to celebrate America’s bicentennial while also celebrating the city’s rich melting pot of heritages. More than three decades later the dates may have changed, but that same festival is widely considered the last big hurrah of the summer. Its reasons for celebrating, though, have not changed: to honor and preserve the legacy of the Italian-American community.

La Festa Italiana will encompass Scranton’s Courthouse Square Saturday, Sept. 5 through Monday, Sept. 7 and features entertainment and more than 70 food and craft vendors, quite a big change from its inaugural year where about a dozen vendors set up on Washington Avenue. After an October snowstorm in 1980, the festival’s dates were changed to Labor Day weekend in 1981 and have been held that weekend ever since.

The date change and festival’s growth aren’t the biggest changes Chris DiMattio has seen in his 15 years as La Festa Italiana’s board president.

“Physically, it’s been the construction at the courthouse,” DiMattio said, referring to the recent renovations of the Lackawanna County Courthouse. “It’s a major change, and it’s allowed us to better the festival where most of the festivalgoers are able to walk on the streets instead of the sidewalks, so there’s more room,” DiMattio said.

With an estimated attendance of 100,000-150,000 each year, more room was definitely needed, but the renovations gave something more than just space. With the restoration of the Victorian Gothic courthouse with Romanesque details, it provided the perfect backdrop for an Italian festival.

“The courthouse is like a piazza, if you think about it. It’s the closest we’ve got to a piazza in this town,” DiMattio said.

Over the years, DiMattio has met people who come to La Festa Italiana from all over the country. There’s been people from Michigan, California, Ohio, the Virginias and Carolinas, plus the buses that come in from New York and New Jersey.

“We get a lot of people telling us that we’re one of the last Italian festivals that truly carry on the heritage,” DiMattio said. “We do not charge an admission, bad economy and good economy. We don’t have alcohol; it’s purely a family festival and people enjoy that.”

‘Food, food, glorious food’

The big draw for La Festa is no surprise.

“Food, food, food, food, glorious food,” DiMattio said.

Ninety percent of the vendors are food related, he shared, and they’ll offer everything from Italian pastries and coffees to pizza, pasta and tripe.

“We tried doing other stuff to raise money for charity, like pasta fagioli, and then we tried porketta,” said Pat Yanni. “We experimented with it and came up with a good recipe.”

Yanni works on the porketta committee for Unico, a non-profit organization that promotes and enhances the image of Italian-Americans through charity work and civic, social and cultural development. Unico has been involved in La Festa since the festival began.

The Unico stand starts prepping a week before La Festa and goes though 4,000 pounds of porketta every year, which Yanni said its sells out.

The secret, he said, is in the flavor.

“It’s the way we cook it and the way we prepare it. It’s fantastic. You’ll never go to another porketta,” he vowed.

All boasting aside, La Festa is Unico’s largest fundraiser of the year. Every year, the organization will donate between $15,000-$20,000 to scholarships, cancer research or other non-profits.

This is also the biggest fundraiser for the St. Ubaldo Society of Jessup, which sells pasta, prosciutto sandwiches, risotto and tripe.

“Penne and vodka sauce is our biggest seller, but tripe is our identity,” said Society Treasurer Mike Fiorelli, adding that the stand goes through about 300 pounds each year.

Though the Society puts on its own Italian-heritage festival — Jessup’s St. Ubaldo Day, which honors a connection to its sister city of Gubbio, Italy — Fiorelli said these two events go hand-in-hand.

“They’re both important, and La Festa Italiana keeps us connected to our Italian roots and heritage. It also keeps alive many old recipes. Our tripe recipe is 100 years old and is directly from Gubbio.”

Arcaro & Genell in Old Forge also makes tripe, plus homemade pastas, pizza fritta, sausage and peppers and its infamous pizza.

“Pizza is something we continually make and sell all day long,” said Angelo Genell. “It’s baked on site all day long from fresh dough made at the restaurant. Tripe is a really good seller, too, because people look forward to it because not a lot of people make it.”

Ray Dubiac, owner of Royal Bakery in Exeter, has been involved in La Festa for the past decade. He sells 800 cannoli and hundreds of pounds of Italian cookies.

“This year, we hope to have rum cake squares, and we’ll feature peanut butter cannoli,” Dubiac added.

When asked if he gets to eat at any other stands, he laughed.

“There’s a lot of stands I’d like to hit, but I never have the time.”

Anthony Scala, owner of Brooklyn’s Best Bakery and New York’s Finest bakery in New York, has been coming to La Festa for more than 30 years, bringing with him Italian pastries like cannoli and pizza fritta.

“Our cannoli are special,” Scala said. “We make the cream from an old family recipe my dad brought when he came from Italy in 1952. My cannoli are the best. Anyone that tries them will see that, so tell people to bring this article to get a free pastry if they buy a dozen.”

Scala sells about 15,000-20,000 cannoli during the festival. His whole family, including sons Joseph and Michael and Uncle Guido — who “can fill 100 cannoli in five minutes” — comes to Scranton for the weekend.

“We look forward to it every year. Even with the long hours, everybody wants to come up to Scranton,” Scala said.

Start spreading the news

La Festa’s featured entertainment act is The Duprees — known for romantic interpretations of “the world’s most beautiful love songs.” They will play the main stage on Linden Street Sunday at 7:30 p.m. New this year is the Espresso stage, just up Linden Street from the main stage, which will house smaller acts.

Aside from being board president, DiMattio also takes to the stage for his Frank Sinatra tribute, backed by Marywood University’s Big Band.

“‘New York, New York,’ that’s the one people want to hear,” he said of his favorite song to perform. “But there aren’t too many I don’t love to perform. Actually, the best part of the show for me is the Bobby Darin stuff, because I just love Bobby Darin.”

This year, La Festa teamed up with Lackawanna Railfest 2009, which is presented by Steamtown National Historic Site Sept. 5-6 with the theme “The 1940s.” There will be behind-the-scenes tours, displays, excursions and a USO musical performance. Shuttle service will be provided between Steamtown and La Festa. Visit www.nps.gov/stea for information.

DiMattio’s hope for the future of La Festa is to add more, while still honoring its Italian roots.

“I would love to make more of an ethnic heritage festival out of it with a parade of saints,” he said. “I’d love to see a bike race like they did back in 1976. I’d love to see more ethnic song and dance and displays. They’re just tough to find, but they’re out there. Have them contact me!”

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34th annual La Festa Italiana Saturday-Monday, Sept. 5-7, Courthouse Square, Scranton. Features 70+ food vendors, live entertainment, more. Hours: Saturday-Sunday, noon to 11 p.m., Monday noon to 9 p.m. Free admission. For complete entertainment schedule, visit www.lafestaitaliana.org