Expand<\/a><\/p>\nWorozilcak owns Roseanna\u2019s Pizza & Pasta House in Dickson City and Roseanna\u2019s Pizza in Scranton. Cookies will be only part of his La Festa menu. He gets little sleep before and during the festival.<\/p>\n
Eugene Padula, the owner of Carmella\u2019s Italian Deli & Pastries in West Scranton, has been preparing for a month.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great experience to do it with my family now,\u201d Padula said. \u201cIt\u2019s a big celebration for the Italian community.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Traditional sandwich and drinks:<\/p>\n
On the savory side, La Festa is the home of the UNICO porketta sandwich and hosts the Cappuccino Caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n
Contest:<\/p>\n
The cannoli-eating contest is Monday at 1 p.m.<\/p>\n
More than food:<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Where and when:<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Felittese Italian Festival, Old Forge<\/p>\n
The Felittese Italian Festival is all about \u201cthe three Fs: food, fun and faith,\u201d said chairman Jeff Casella.<\/p>\n
A bold claim:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have the best Italian food of any festival in our area,\u201d Casella said. It is a bold claim to make in a region with a large Italian American community.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody, 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
There are a few food vendors, such as Revello\u2019s Pizza and an ice cream vendor.<\/p>\n
![\"Volunteers](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/STT-L-FEST-0902.jpg\")
Volunteers prepare food for the Felittese Italian Festival in Old Forge. (COURTESY OF THE FELITTESE ITALIAN FESTIVAL)<\/p>\n
The proof is in the trash:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe rate our food by the weight of our trash,\u201d Casella said. \u201cBecause when we look into the trash cans, we see empty plates. That means that people like the food that they\u2019re eating and they\u2019re finishing it. And our trash is always light.\u201d<\/p>\n
Best seller weighs in at 1,000 pounds:<\/p>\n
The best seller is gnocchi, a ricotta-based pasta that resembles small dumplings.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe sell 1,000 pounds of gnocchi a year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Try it, you\u2019ll like it:<\/p>\n
They also serve tripe, a hard-to-find Italian delicacy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a cow\u2019s stomach,\u201d Casella said. \u201cWe have to boil it. It\u2019s sliced and boiled and cut up into smaller pieces, trimmed into smaller pieces.\u201d It is cooked with \u201ctomato sauce and garlic and every kind of seasoning you could think of. And at the end of the day, I always tell people, \u2018Give it a taste.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
More than food:<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Where and when:<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Bell\u2019 Italia in Hazle Twp.<\/p>\n
Bell\u2019 Italia is not just Italia. \u201cBecause Hazleton is so diverse, we try to make it an event that is open to everybody, and that everyone can find something to eat,\u201d said co-chair Dante Chirico.<\/p>\n
Chirico is excited to welcome two new vendors, a taqueria and an empanada maker. Another vendor, Slim\u2019s Cafe, has Dominican roots.<\/p>\n
But the signature dish remains fried dough made by the festival\u2019s sponsor, the Hazleton chapter of UNICO, the cultural and charitable group.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople come to that festival, for the last 18 years, just for that fried dough,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Detritis Family will be serving steak and cheese and sausage and peppers for their 12th year.<\/p>\n
![\"Elena](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/HZS-L-UNICO-0906-23.jpg\")
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)<\/p>\n
Contests:<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
More than food:<\/p>\n
Other Bell\u2019 Italia Festival features include free amusement rides, bocce, a meatball cookoff, a petting zoo, craft vendors, a veterans\u2019 ceremony, a prayer service and music.<\/p>\n
Where and when:<\/p>\n
The 18th UNICO Bell\u2019 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Food definitely comes first for many who plan to attend three upcoming Italian festivals in the area. La…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44321,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[28808,28809,5,28810,1333,28811,28812,5655,15118,28813,773,14540],"class_list":["post-44320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-italy","tag-hazle-township","tag-hazleton","tag-italy","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-luzerne-county","tag-old-forge","tag-pennsylvania","tag-restaurants-food-and-drink","tag-scranton","tag-things-to-do","tag-top-stories-stt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Dwayne](\"https:\/\/www.thetimes-tribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/STT-L-COOKIES-0902-02.jpg?w=620\")
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