Italian Community Center

Festa Italiana is the oldest of the lakefront ethnic festivals, dating back to 1978 (see John Gurda’s «The Making of Milwaukee,» it’s one of the best historical documentaries I’ve ever seen). Urban renewal chopped up the Italian geographic concentration and began a process of community disengagement especially after the razing of the famed pink Italian church, Our Lady of Pompeii. The ICC was established to reunite the Italian-​American community via Festa but they now host cooking and language classes, dances, theater and operetta presentations, bocce leagues, and interesting exhibits. Café La Scala is open to the public and although it’s not the best Italian restaurant in town (how could it be in a city with such a rich history of Italian immigration?), it’s pretty good and one of the only ones open for breakfast. I would also recommend considering the banquet/​meeting spaces if you’re planning a medium to larger size wedding reception or similar special event.

Giuditta Mari
The Taste of Italy was a spectacular event held April 6, 2014 at the ICC. People filled the building and the courtyard what a beaufiful thing to see families get together find old friends and neighbors. The vendors were great but not as great as the super volunteers that I saw who ran this event flawlessly.

We held our Junior Prom here, and I cannot rave enough about how awesome it was to work with Michelle. Our students had an amazing night, and I think it’s the best prom our school has ever held :)

The food. Oh the fine fine Italian food.
Festa not only has the best food out of any of the MKE festivals, it has the best fireworks show out of them all.
I love the cultural exhibit — with all the floral arrangements and the statues from various Italian churches in Milwaukee — it is pretty impressive. They also have a great collection of old photographs from Italian families and MKE streets of the past. I could get lost in these photos for hours if it weren’t for the amazing smells of cannolis, pasta and Peroni wafting by!

Of the few festivals I’ve been to since moving to Milwaukee, I’ve found Festa Italiana to be the most authentic and expansive of them all.
Can I just advise that you skip the usual fair food (mini doughnuts, roasted nuts and the like) and head straight for the Italian fare. The rice balls are amazing! Stuffed with cheese, meat, and vegetables, they’re fried and smothered in tomato sauce.
We caught some Italian folk dancing, opera, and other parts of Italian culture (cars, movies, etc). There was also an escape artist act that we didn’t watch much of, because the assistant was annoying, and — while the tricks were amazing — they were slow in coming.

GROWING UP MARIO BROTHERS WAS THE EXTENT OF MY EXPOSURE TO ITALIAN CULTURE. A recent visit (July 2012) was my first visit to the Festa Italiana at the Summerfest grounds which celebrated their 35^th anniversary.
COST: Two adults plus parking equals $ 36 just to get access to the East side of the entrance gate. ($ 13×2 +$ 10). My wife and I went at around 7PM on Saturday.
INGESTED: Rice balls, spinach lasagna, cheesecake, martini, root beer, mini donuts
RODE: The ski lift, one way, to see what Festa Italiana had to offer. I had no idea the Summerfest grounds were so huge!
HOAN BRIDGE TO NOWHERE: I got to see the Hoan Bridge built out of Legos. Just like how the real bridge (visible from the Summerfest grounds) once didn’t connect to anything neither did this one. The Lego Bridge to Nowhere.
CROOKED: Potawatomi Bingo Casino was giving away FREE gray t-​shirts. My wife wanted one to wear to wear to the gym. She put it on a few days later and the graphics were slanted. The were pawning off their screen printer rejects onto festival goers! TOO FUNNY!
MAJOR WRONG: Major Goolsby had a martini and margarita stand. I asked what alcohol they used in the martinis. The first guy didn’t know. I ask the second guy «gin or vodka?». They use vodka. Don’t call it a martini.
LAID BACK: This was one of the most pleasant and laid back festivals I’ve ever been to. Great time!

Go early. This is only a partial review as we only did this for about 6 hours and we did it early in the day. Noon to 6 pm on a Saturday. It was a little steamy. Don’t go for the food. I tried many different items and out of 5 items, I only found 2 worth mentioning. A cheese ravioli and a espigila? Dish. (fried dough sprinkled with sugar). They really should have banned the non-​Italian food carts.
The music varies, so you can find something you like. The highlight to me was the kid «bouncy» area was free. This alone might get me to come back. The other highlight was the Bocci courts. Very nice set-​up and they sent us with a referee to show us how to play. This guy stayed and did 2 games with us. Very nice. Made it very cool.
Glad we left when we did because it was getting pretty crowded around 6 pm. Might consider going back, but maybe 2 – 3 years in between.
I took my Italian mother-​in law. Maybe get some points for that, but I could see her taking a pass next year too.

I do love me some Festa Italiana. For those who don’t like the incredibly busy crowds of Summerfest, this is a great festival to check out. Day or night, the crowds are still big but much easier to navigate. It’s great to see so many local establishments represented — Peter Sciortino’s, Nessun Dorma, and Café La Scala, to name a few. Good music, fireworks every night, and lots of super delicious food — what’s not to love?

I’ve only ever taken Italian language classes here, so I can’t comment on the restaurant or anything.
But the building is huge and beautiful. The restaurant was open during my classes, so I was able to have a glass of wine during class, which was spectacular.
They have their own parking lot and the folks at the front desk are super-​helpful.
Folks affiliated with the ICC are hard-​core — in a good way. They don’t want to lose their Italian heritage and they want to include others in the festivals, dinners, parties, classes and more that they do to continue to teach others about their history and heritage.

The ICC is a great, large space suitable for weddings and fundraisers and parties of all sorts. Also, it’s in the Third Ward, and not far from the lake. Ample parking. Total venue win!
The folks I’ve encountered that are affiliated with the ICC have always been nice and helpful; I’ve never felt not welcome there. I know they’re definitely trying to become more visibile in the community — they’re looking to raise awareness about membership as well as the space itself, and I like that. Community engagement = you care about your city = you’re an integral part of it by being active and, well, actually creating community in a tangible way.
The board at the ICC puts on Festa Italiana, which is, well, you know. (If you don’t, it’s pretty awesome.) They also host special events that are open to the public somewhat regularly, so keep an eye out for those!
Great patio, too. Stellar patio.

This was my first year at Festa Italiana and I cannot wait to come back every year!
Food, drinks AND music was great! Frankie Valli? YES PLEASE! he put on a GREAT show!

Festa has always been my favorite over the years I’ve spent in Mil-​Town.
Even further supported by my last visit there this summer.
Wine glass is full (at summerfest it’s only half-​full). AND it’s $ 5 instead of the $ 7 summerfest price. Ding, Ding, Ding! Folks, we have a winner!
Oh and this year ALL the rides were free!!! WOWZA!!!
(too bad no one I went with was willing to go on the Zipper with me, boo-​hoo!) Hope they do that again next year… Zipper anyone???

We had our Employee Recognition Banquet here Friday night. The space is clean and well maintained. The staff was friendly and professional. The food was outstanding for a banquet, mass service type situation.
We started with a really nice Salad that had the unique addition of artichoke hearts. For the main course we had the choice of Salmon or Stuffed Chicken Breast. My Salmon was very good and my tablemates raved about their Chicken. Both entrees came with Pasta and Broccoli. Dessert was an outstanding huge slice of Chocolate Layer Cake.
The Facilities are very wheelchair friendly. Thanks to the Italian Community Center and my Co-​Workers and friends for making this a very memorable evening!

Been coming to Festa for many, many years and am a former Italian Community Center member.
I’m glad to see Festa back to the status it used to be in the old days. This year, due in part to the recognition about the economy there seemed to be more ways to get in «free» (purchasing products, having receipts) than in the past. Also, all of the midway rides (carousel, ferris wheel) were free for kids and adults.
The food is always plentiful and although there are some hits and some misses, there’s always something for everyone at Festa. The entertainment was good and somewhat predictable (there are annual «must haves») but the fireworks are what everyone comes to Festa for. The Bartolotta Family just outdoes themselves year on year. 10:15pm can’t come soon enough for most but it really puts the exclamation point on a great day.
Unfortunately this year, the weather was cool which unfortunately means low attendance and that just sucks for all vendors and beer stands. But this is a very reliable form of family entertainment each and every year.

This is my second year and I am a fan. The fog was out and it kept a lot of the people away. That was fine by me. They had Joe Piscopo on Friday night. But We came to see the Rat Pack. Last year they had Liza, and it was a little more entertaining. But Dean Martin’s daughter was up before them and she was pretty good. They had a Karaōke tent set up. They were very bad. I was looking for the gift shop to see if they sold gernades? The food was great. They had everything under the sun. I had ½ a chicken from Miss Katie’s Diner, cheese manicotti from Buca, an éclair and tiramisu from Peter Sciortino’s Bakery. They were all good except for the tiramisu was still frozen. There is lots to do and it never really gets crowded because it’s spread out. Motley Crew was playing at the theater next door. Can you say act your age? 45 with long hair and make-​up trying to buy tickets to get in. I didn’t think that they made spandex for men anymore. Rude! This is not taste of Chicago. It clean and people are actually nice to you. There are no tickets to buy. It’s only 12 bucks to get in and the fireworks are on every night. It’s family friendly as they have carnival rides at one end of the park. And 6 stages for the rest of us.

Festa! One of Milwaukee’s most well established lakefront festivals, Festa Italiana is a family reunion of sorts for Milwaukee’s Italian community. Long before Milwaukee’s Third Ward become Yuppie Central, the neighborhood was home to a thriving Sicilian and Italian community, centered around a little pink church called Our Lady of Pompeii. The church was eventually razed to make way for a freeway, the Italians scattered to new neighborhoods throughout the metro area, but the community’s roots and traditions live on in this lively festival thrown right down the street from the community’s old stomping grounds.
The music at Festa is a good mix of old and new, with some standards like Dick Contina, an amazing concertina player, Frank Sinatra impersonators, traditional Italian folk acts and newer artists straight from Italy.
And, of course, the food is superb.