Celebrate Italy Festival

Celebrate Italy Festival
Sponsored by Nicholas Endowment  

Join us to celebrate Italian Heritage month! The Columbus Ceremony will begin at 10am with a color guard, anthems, and a wreath ceremony at the Christopher Columbus Monument. After a big Italian lunch ($10 for non-members), the festivities will continue with free Italian Ice and live performances of romantic and uplifting traditional Italian music. There will be a marionette puppet show in the Kershaw Auditorium at 1pm with great entertainment for children. There’s something for everyone!

This event is hosted by the Orange County American Italian Renaissance Foundation and the Bowers Museum’s Italian Arts Council.  The Orange County American Italian Renaissance Foundation has hosted a Columbus Celebration in Santa Ana since 1972, and since 1992 at the Bowers Museum.  In 1992, the year of the Columbus Quincentennary Celebration, the Foundation placed and dedicated a monument in honor of the great explorer Christopher Columbus in the museum’s courtyard.

This year the Renaissance Lodge and Foundation and the Italian Arts Council celebrate with three honorees: Vicky Carabini, Joseph Ferrucci, Esq., and John Russo, Ph.D.  

Special guests include Valeria Rumori, Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Los Angeles, and Antonio Verde, Consul General of Italy in Los Angeles.

REMINDER: A Cinema Italiano film will not be presented on this day, but the festival will be presented by the Bowers Italian Cultural Arts Council.