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Intelligencer Journal
Festival Italiano
Hundreds gather at Rosa Rosa to celebrate second-annual event
BY MICHAEL YODER, Intelligencer Journal Staff
The lights strung across North Charlotte Street from wooden food stands Sunday gave the appearance of a traditional street fair in New York City's Little Italy.
For the second year in a row the Italian community in Lancaster came together to make its own Italian festival a reality.
This year, organizers and festival-goers took time to honor the event's originator, Giovanni Di Somma, who died in June from injuries sustained in a scooter accident just before last year's festival.
Gennaro Di Somma, Giovanni's son and owner of Rosa Rosa Ristorante Italiano, said he could feel his father looking down from the sky Sunday, keeping the weather sunny and beautiful.
"To see this turnout and see this many Italian-Americans come together for this event really means a lot to my family," Di Somma said.
Sunday's events, which drew hundreds of people to the parking lot and street in front of Rosa Rosa, featured an assortment of Italian delicacies, and traditional games and music.
A 12-team tournament of bocce was held on a temporary platform covered with green Astroturf in the parking lot. Each participant carefully measured every shot before rolling the red and green balls down the bumpy surface.
Joe D'Isabella of Oxford and his father, Joe D'Isabella Sr. of Lancaster, came away with the bocce championship.
The elder D'Isabella masterfully placed his shots near the jack, or the smaller ball. He grew up learning the game in the Italian town of Maltignano, near the middle of the eastern coast of the country. He moved to Lancaster in 1960.
He said when he was 15 he would go into the local bar that had a bocce court and challenge his friends to games, with the winner taking home a gelatto instead of a beer.
He would later show his son how to play.
The secret to bocce is the touch, the feel and the roll of the ball, the younger D'Isabella said.
He also said he enjoyed coming to the festival to play in the tournament and to take in the fellowship of people of his heritage.
"It's really nice to share our culture with everybody," D'Isabella said. "It's a great event with the all the food, the prizes and music."
About 12 people of all ages took part in a cannoli-eating contest.
Michael Waid of Lancaster held his hands in the air to signal victory, then he clutched his chest after downing five of the traditional Italian desserts of fried pastry dough, creamy filling and chocolate chips in less than five minutes.
"We had a couple of kids bragging at the start," Waid said. "But I felt like I was in the zone."
Friends Andy Flores III, 11, and Dakota Heiselman, 12, said they came to the festival to see if they could win the $50 prize for finishing the cannoli first.
Andy said he hadn't eaten anything all day except a Hot Pocket for lunch. He said he enjoys eating the cannolis from Campus Deli on Harrisburg Pike.
Andy was able to put down two in the competition, while Dakota finished one.
"They fill you up pretty quick," Andy said. "It's kind of hard to eat a cannoli without some water."
Festival organizers said this year's event proved to be successful despite some of the sponsors dropping out at the last minute.
Di Somma said the festival volunteers include family, friends of the restaurant and members of the local Italian community. He even had a cousin that came from Italy to help with the event.
"It's the Italian American community coming together and really contributing to a good cause, helping to build a tradition and helping the Italian American society grow to even bigger and better heights," Di Somma said.
