The Besta the Festa — San Jose 2017

Richard Medugno
Aug 27, 2017 · 4 min read

I’ve attended the Italian Family Festa every August in downtown San Jose for four years in a row now. I guess you could say it’s become a tradition for me. It’s really easy for me to go because the History San Jose park — where the Festa has been held since 2016 — is just a stone throw’s from my home.

As it’s a free event and I’m half Italian (don’t ask which half!), I have no half-ass excuses for not attending. What a treat it is just to take a weekend stroll and within 15 minutes, be able to enjoy all the art, cultural, entertainment, and the food of my Nonno’s and Nonna’s homeland. Yes, I’m very spoiled.

Four meatballs and a bun. Duh!

I tend to arrive at the Festa a little before lunch time to avoid the late afternoon crowds. My first stop is for a slice of Tony & Alba’s pizza, sold from a booth on the main thoroughfare. Then I inhale a meatball sub, followed by a cannoli. Ah, mangia bene!

Beyond the Italian food, the highlights for me this year included octogenarian and San Jose native Chet Campanella talking about how during World War Two recent Italian immigrants like his parents were subject to intense scrutiny by the FBI and severely limited by US government war-time rules and regulations.

Chet Campanella and Pinocchio

For instance, according to Chet, recent Italian immigrants were called “enemy aliens” and not allowed to commute any further than five miles to work. So if you had a job that exceeded that distance, you either needed to move closer to the job or give up the work and find something closer.

Mr. Campanella shared other stories about his personal experience that were interesting and deepened my understanding of the challenges new immigrants have always faced after coming to America. Note: though a Pinocchio puppet was prominently displayed above and behind Mr. Campanella throughout his presentation, I resisted questioning the veracity of his memories. And I can vouch that Chet’s nose did not grew at all during the entire time he was sharing at the Italia Stage.


In the culture tent, I enjoyed chatting with Mary Menniti, a recent transplant to the Bay Area from Pittsburgh, PA. Mary is the founder of The Italian Garden Project, and on her display table, she had a lot of material about her passion project that was inspired by her grandfather and his love for gardening (seemingly like all the other Italian immigrants!).

Mary Menniti of The Italian Garden Project

According to one of Mary’s pamphlet, “The mission of The Italian Garden Project(TM) is to celebrate the joy and wisdom inherent in the traditional Italian American vegetable garden, preserving this heritage, and demonstrating its relevance for reconnecting to our food, our families, and the Earth.”

Mary Menniti with a calendar showing off the Italian gardens of Pittsburgh, PA

Mary’s grandfather emigrated from a town near Napoli. My grandfather emigrated from a town near Napoli too. We shared a laugh, when I suggested Mary and I might be related. She said when her grandfather was processed through Ellis Island, his occupation was listed as “peasant.” This also amused her because he ended up working in the coal mines and steel mills of western Pennslyvania, and like seemingly every hard-working immigrant became a successful and proud American citizen, who when he retired kept a garden. This garden lead to at least one granddaughter becoming so inspired that she dedicating much of her life to the “preservation of [the] Italian American gardening heritage.”


Another highlight at this year’s Festa, was the performance of accordion-player Tom Torriglia on the Roma Stage with his band Bella Ciao, which included the fetching vocalist named Trish (something Italian that I didn’t catch).

I “cannoli” say two words when asked to describe this attractive singer who so clearly and naturally upstaged Mr. Torriglia throughout his entire set, whether she was singing or not. Those two words: “Momma Mia!”

I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Italian flag look better. Brava!

If ah-you lika dis ah blog, please ah-clicka on da clap-clap icon below. Grazie!

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