Food definitely comes first for many who plan to attend three upcoming Italian festivals in the area.
La Festa Italiana fills Scranton’s Courthouse Square Labor Day weekend. The Felittese Italian Festival in Old Forge and Bell’ Italia in Hazleton are both Sept. 11-13.
Here is your guide to each festival.
La Festa Italiana
Since the early ’80s, Dwayne Worozilcak has been making cookies with his Italian American mother’s recipes. He almost always sells out at La Festa, he said.
“The biggest sellers are the ricotta cookies,” he said. “We do about 7,000 ricotta.”
Also: 6,000 pepper, 6,000 anise made with pure anise oil and 1,250 each of orange, lemon, banana and vanilla. The color of the icing — that’s 1,200 pounds of it — varies by the flavor of the cookie. He says they benefit from being chilled at a low, but not freezing temperature, in preparation for La Festa. They are stored in single layers in pizza boxes wrapped in plastic.
He works with Jerry’s For All Seasons in Dunmore, which has convection ovens.
Dwayne Worozilcak, left, owner of Roseanna’s Pizza and Pasta in Dickson City, makes cookies for La Festa Italiana, which will be held Labor Day weekend on Courthouse Square in Scranton. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
Dwayne Worozilcak, left, owner of Roseanna’s Pizza and Pasta in Dickson City, shows boxes of cookies prepared for La Festa Italiana, which will be held Labor Day weekend on Courthouse Square in Scranton. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
Cookies prepared for La Festa Italiana are on display at Roseanna’s Pizza and Pasta in Dickson City. La Festa will be held Labor Day weekend on Courthouse Square in Scranton. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
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Dwayne Worozilcak, left, owner of Roseanna’s Pizza and Pasta in Dickson City, makes cookies for La Festa Italiana, which will be held Labor Day weekend on Courthouse Square in Scranton. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
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Worozilcak owns Roseanna’s Pizza & Pasta House in Dickson City and Roseanna’s Pizza in Scranton. Cookies will be only part of his La Festa menu. He gets little sleep before and during the festival.
Eugene Padula, the owner of Carmella’s Italian Deli & Pastries in West Scranton, has been preparing for a month.
“It’s a great experience to do it with my family now,” Padula said. “It’s a big celebration for the Italian community.”
His menu includes house-made cannoli. The pumpkin flavor is popular, he said. Other pastries come from Italian businesses in New York and New Jersey.
Traditional sandwich and drinks:
On the savory side, La Festa is the home of the UNICO porketta sandwich and hosts the Cappuccino Café.
Contest:
The cannoli-eating contest is Monday at 1 p.m.
More than food:
In addition to food, La Festa offers music, cultural exhibits, a car show, a race and walk, and is celebrated with a Catholic Mass said in Italian.
Where and when:
La Festa is on Courthouse Square in Scranton. The hours are Friday from 4-10 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; and Monday, Labor Day, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Felittese Italian Festival, Old Forge
The Felittese Italian Festival is all about “the three Fs: food, fun and faith,” said chairman Jeff Casella.
A bold claim:
“We have the best Italian food of any festival in our area,” Casella said. It is a bold claim to make in a region with a large Italian American community.
“Everybody, everybody has that claim, but we can claim this one thing that none of them can: Everything that we make is homemade with our hands, and it comes to you as fresh as it can,” he said.
There are a few food vendors, such as Revello’s Pizza and an ice cream vendor.
Volunteers prepare food for the Felittese Italian Festival in Old Forge. (COURTESY OF THE FELITTESE ITALIAN FESTIVAL)
The proof is in the trash:
“We rate our food by the weight of our trash,” Casella said. “Because when we look into the trash cans, we see empty plates. That means that people like the food that they’re eating and they’re finishing it. And our trash is always light.”
Best seller weighs in at 1,000 pounds:
The best seller is gnocchi, a ricotta-based pasta that resembles small dumplings.
“We sell 1,000 pounds of gnocchi a year,” he said.
Try it, you’ll like it:
They also serve tripe, a hard-to-find Italian delicacy.
“It’s a cow’s stomach,” Casella said. “We have to boil it. It’s sliced and boiled and cut up into smaller pieces, trimmed into smaller pieces.” It is cooked with “tomato sauce and garlic and every kind of seasoning you could think of. And at the end of the day, I always tell people, ‘Give it a taste.’”
Casella is happy to provide a sample before a customer decides to pay $14 for a serving of tripe, which is served with bread on the side.
More than food:
The festival features music by Picture Perfect, Smoke & Mirrors, Into the Spin, the Old Forge High School band, a celebration of the Feast Day of Our Lady of Constantinople and raffles.
Where and when:
The festival will be on the Chapel Grounds, 145 Third St., Old Forge. Hours are Friday, Sept. 11, 5-10 p.m.; Saturday, Sept. 12, 4-10 p.m., and Sunday, Sept. 13, noon-7 p.m.
Bell’ Italia in Hazle Twp.
Bell’ Italia is not just Italia. “Because Hazleton is so diverse, we try to make it an event that is open to everybody, and that everyone can find something to eat,” said co-chair Dante Chirico.
Chirico is excited to welcome two new vendors, a taqueria and an empanada maker. Another vendor, Slim’s Cafe, has Dominican roots.
But the signature dish remains fried dough made by the festival’s sponsor, the Hazleton chapter of UNICO, the cultural and charitable group.
“People come to that festival, for the last 18 years, just for that fried dough,” he said.
The Detritis Family will be serving steak and cheese and sausage and peppers for their 12th year.
Elena Timko and Pete Keselicka ready an order of fried dough at the Hazleton UNICO’s Fabulous Fried Dough during UNICO’s 17th annual Bell’ Italia Festival on Sept. 5, 2025, at Community Park in Hazle Twp. (John Haeger / Staff Photographer)
Contests:
Spaghetti-eating contests are Sunday, Sept. 13, with children tackling a half pound of spaghetti at noon and adults facing down a pound at 1 p.m. No forks or hands allowed.
More than food:
Other Bell’ Italia Festival features include free amusement rides, bocce, a meatball cookoff, a petting zoo, craft vendors, a veterans’ ceremony, a prayer service and music.
Where and when:
The 18th UNICO Bell’ Italia Festival is Friday, Sept. 11, from 5-9 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 12, 10 a.m.-8 p.m., and Sunday, Sept. 13, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., at Community Park, 37 Pecora Blvd., Hazle Twp.
Dining and Cooking