BY LAUREL MYERS
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The largest Italian festival in northern Ontario is back for its 36th year, and the organizing committee is promising this year's festival will be one of the best.
To celebrate its three-decade long run, the Caruso Club Italian Festival will be hosting a 40-piece orchestra straight from Fano, Italy.
"This is their first visit to Canada," said Adler Volpini, one of the committee members responsible for bringing the orchestra to Sudbury.
The orchestra is led by musical director Giorgio Caselli, who graduated from the world famous Rossini Conservatory in Pesaro, Italy. The group has also performed twice in the presence of the Pope.
Talking about the orchestra brought a smile to Volpini's face.
"They come from my hometown," he said. "But I've never seen them perform."
The orchestra's main performance will be Thursday, July 3, at 8 p.m. in the Caruso Club Upper Hall. They will also be performing throughout the festival.
The festival will begin on Wednesday evening with an amateur boxing match featuring boxing teams from Italy and the ONTC Top Glove Boxing Academy. Italian boxers include Andrea Marziali and Nazzareno Constantini, who will knock gloves with Sudbury boxers Davide Rossi Brunori and Daniele D'Angelo.
"We started to bring boxers from Italy in 2001," said Gord Apolloni, head coach for ONTC Boxing. "This is the punch off to the Italian Festival."
Caruso Club president Tony Nero said the festival has grown every year.
"We have more people coming out and sharing our Italian culture with us," he said. "This year is a special year because we have a large band from Italy."
The festival runs July 2-6 at the Caruso Club. Events will take place indoors and outdoors, including an Italian food fair, youth games, beach volleyball, tug-of-war, a bocce tournament, and watermelon and pasta eating contests. There will also be a soccer skills competition, as well as a celebrity dunk tank. The Festival of Stars Variety Night will run on Saturday, featuring performances by Alessandro Constantini, the Lockerby Composite Improv team, Happiness is Dancing and more.
Admission is free for all events, excluding the boxing. Tickets for the match are $20 and can be purchased at the Caruso Club or by calling 674-2693. For a complete list of events, visit www.carusoclub.ca , under Monthly Bulletin, June 2008.
"I welcome everybody to come out and be part of the Italian Festival," Nero said. "And I want to thank everyone who has worked hard to make this happen. I would also like to wish everybody a Happy Canada Day."
