The 92nd Annual Festa Italia returns to downtown Monterey this weekend, celebrating Italian culture and honoring the city’s fishing community with food, music, and traditions that date back more than nine decades. The free festival runs Friday through Sunday at Custom House Plaza in Monterey State Historic Park.
The Festa Italia Foundation, a nonprofit that organizes the annual event, said this year’s festival will include traditional Italian dishes such as calamari, steak and sausage sandwiches, pasta, arancini, and cannoli. Returning favorites include the eggplant parmesan sandwich, added last year, along with fried shrimp. A variety of beverages, including wine, beer, sodas and water, will also be available.
The Festa Italia is a free event to celebrate Monterey’s Italian heritage and cultural traditions. (Arianna Nalbach – Monterey Herald)
New in 2025 is an Italian Dessert Court on the upper plaza featuring Italian cookies, coffee, fresh cannoli and Italian ice in cherry, watermelon, and lemon flavors. The area will include cafe tables for attendees to enjoy desserts while listening to live music.
Entertainment will include professional musicians, dancing, and bocce. Sunday will feature new tarantella dance lessons in front of the main stage. At Old Fisherman’s Wharf, Chef Tene Shake will lead two cioppino cooking demonstrations. Children’s activities include a bungee attraction and an inflatable slide.
In addition to food and entertainment, vendors will offer Italian-themed and Festa Italia-specific merchandise, along with crafts and clothing. Festival organizers have also added interactive features such as photo walls and a “world traveler’s” signpost to mark the occasion.
This year’s festival will welcome Vitalba Gammicchia, vice council of commerce and commercial attaché at the Consulate General of Italy in San Francisco.
Festa Italia began in 1933, when Monterey’s Sicilian fishermen donated a statue of Santa Rosalia, their patron saint, to San Carlos Cathedral. The fishermen sought her blessings for safe voyages and plentiful harvests, establishing a tradition that continues today as a celebration of heritage and community.
The festival will run from 3 to 9 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday at Custom House Plaza in downtown Monterey. Admission is free.
Dining and Cooking