Festa Italia 2025: everything you need to know about return of award-winning, family-friendly festival this weekend which will see 'Lancaster turn Italian' with street food, music and entertainment

The popular festival attracted more than 100,000 visitors over the last two years, and since 2024 has expanded into a two-day celebration of Italian street food, music and culture.

On Saturday (May 24), there will be a free music concert from 7.30pm to 10pm.

This will feature: Stevie Kay, a Frank Sinatra tribute act, who will also perform on Sunday; Voce, a tenor quartet; and the Morecambe-based Welsh soprano, Leigh Rhianon Coggins.

An Aperol spritz bar and a pizza truck will also be available to whet your appetite before the main event on Sunday.

Sunday’s event will take place between 11am and 6pm, and is also free to attend.

At approximately 11.15am, the Moto Guzzi Owner’s Club will join the festival with a collection of classic and modern Guzzi motorbikes.

The festival will feature two-wheeled motor vehicles aplenty, with Lambrettas, Vespas and other motorcycles also set to be showcased.

A celebration of Italian culture would not be complete without featuring perhaps Italy’s most famous export – its cuisine.

Visitors will have an array of street food to choose from, including pizza, pasta, arancini, piadina, Italian fudge, and more.

Italian wines, beers, gins and Prosecco will also be available.

As a family-friendly event, there will be a Bambino Zone in Marketgate Shopping Centre, where children can enjoy a range of entertainment and activities.

Since its inaugural event in 2018, the festival has gone on to win the 2023 Best of the Bay visitor attraction award, and this year was recognised as the best Italian festival in the UK by the Comites di Manchester – a representative body for Italian citizens living in the Manchester consular district.

The organisation will attend the event on Sunday.

In January, Lancaster businessman Paul Cusimano told the Lancaster Guardian that the event was under threat amid the cancellations of the Highest Point festival and Lancaster Music Festival, and appealed to the

public for its support.

The organiser, Totally Local Lancaster, said that the return of the festival “will once again see Lancaster turn Italian.”

“Another packed day offering a whole host of Italian themed fun,” they added. “Festa Italia attracts tens of thousands of visitors every edition from not only all over the UK, but from other European countries and even as far as Canada.”

Information about the event can be found at https://www.facebook.com/LancasterFestaItalia