What's On
Festa Italiana unveil full line-up for its huge Italian food festival on August bank holiday
Festa Italiana is back!
The UK’s largest Italian food festival, Festa Italiana has unveiled a colossal line-up ahead of its free Cathedral Gardens event over the August bank holiday weekend.
Festa, initially born out of Manchester’s Italian community four years ago, is back with a bang after Covid-19 foiled its plans last year, with workshops, demonstrations, book signings and some of Italy’s finest cuisine courtesy of celebrated Italian chefs such as Aldo Zilli, Giancarlo Caldesi, Gennaro Contaldo and Festa founder, Salvi owner Maurizio Cecco.
So, what’s up for grabs on the food front?
Well, considering that Festa celebrates all things Italian, it never fails to deliver on the cuisine side of things. Throughout the weekend, returning Festa favourites, Café Cannoli will be selling their delicious cannoli made using authentic ingredients imported from Sicily.
Some familiar names will also be making an appearance – I Knead Pizza will be using their staple wood-fired oven to serve their famous Neapolitan pizza, while NQ Sicilian will be dishing up artisan gelato, Coppa Della Casa, Brioche Gelato and Brioche Col Tuppo. Also on the bill, the driving force behind Festa Italiana, family run Salvi’s will be frying up its popular Festival dish, Italian Pizza Fritta.
Pasta Factory will also be serving up a menu of fresh pasta paired with handmade sauces, lovingly prepared by a family with culinary roots in Puglia Italy. And for those with a sweet tooth, Paradiso Authentic Italian will be bringing its range of carefully crafted tiramisú.
Carmela Sereno Hayes, the hugely popular pastaia (specialist pasta maker) and author, will also be making a return to Festa with her much talked about pasta workshops.
I Knead Pizza
And as for the beverages front?
Well, it wouldn’t be a weekend dedicated to Italian cuisine without some authentic Italian booze, would it? The Main Festival Bar will be bringing all of the Italian classics to the party, including Aperol Spritz, the Festa’s signature cocktail Limoncello Spritz in partnership with official Festa brand partner, Limonce.
There’ll also be Italian craft beers, Prosecco, Italian wine, Negronis, Gin & Tonic, and San Pellegrino soft drinks, and Peroni will also be serving pints of their famed lager at the Peroni Showcase Bar, alongside their own portable cinema.
The films showed will be Romeo and Juliet, Cinema Paradiso and La Dolce Vita.
But perhaps most excitingly, there will also be a number of masterclasses across the weekend.
On Friday 27th August, there will be a series of family-friendly masterclasses for those attending with children – at 1:30pm, Sienna Cecco, the twelve-year-old daughter of Salvi’s owner, will be hosting a cooking demo to teach kids how to make simple and tasty dishes with ease, and at 2:30pm, Julia Martinelli from Pasta Factory will deliver a fun kids pasta masterclass.
Festa Italiana
Saturday 28th August will then see back-to-back workshops and book signings hosted by celebrity chefs and award-winning authors: Gennaro Contaldo, UK brand ambassador for Parmigiano Reggiano, (Saturday Kitchen, Two Greedy Italians, Jamie and Jimmy’s Friday Night Feast) at 1:30pm, and Giancarlo Caldesi (Return to Tuscany, Saturday Kitchen, Sunday Brunch) at 2:30pm.
On Sunday 29th August, Gennaro Contaldo will be back at 12:30pm with another Parmigiano Reggiano masterclass and book signing, and at 1:30pm, Fran Scafuri from Altrincham’s Tre Ciccio will be taking guests through a very special recipe. At 2:30pm, celebrity chef and award-winning restaurateur, Aldo Zilli will be hosting a masterclass and book signing.
On the music front, Compagnia Sole Luna will be flying over from Naples and performing each day, bringing traditional folk music revisited in a folk-rock style from southern Italy, while DJs will be spinning records each night.
The free festival will be taking place at Cathedral Gardens on the August bank holiday weekend, Friday 27th to Sunday 29th. For more information and to grab tickets for the paid events, visit the Festa Italiana website here.
What's On
Huge ’80s vs ’90s music festival featuring Vengaboys, 911, Five and more coming to Manchester
The ultimate event for pop music nostalgia
All your favourite music acts from the ’80s and ’90s are set to make an epic comeback at a new music festival here in Manchester.
Now, there’s no disputing that the music born from these two decades is perhaps the best and most iconic the world has to offer – so the idea of an entire music festival built upon it sounds a little too good to be true, doesn’t it?
The ‘80s V ’90s Festival will be taking over the Bowlers Exhibition Centre where a number of iconic acts from the (you guessed it) 1980s and 1990s will be going head-to-head to put on the show of your lives.
Bowlers Manchester / Facebook
Nostalgic artists confirmed for the line up include the Vengaboys, Five, Limahal, Chesney Hawkes, 911, Lee Latchford Evans, Andi Peters, Samantha Fox and Gary Davies.
Throughout the event, guests will be able to meet and greet the artists, so make sure you get an old school poster ready to sign for those real ’80s and ’90s vibes.
And this line up isn’t the only blast from the past in store for the event – there will also be a number of vendors in attendance who will be selling retro garms and goods.
@vengaboys / Instagram
Sound good?
Well, luckily for you tickets are on sale now! To buy your own, head here.
The festival will be taking place at the Bowlers Exhibition Centre on Saturday January 29th, 2022 between 2pm – 11pm. All guests must provide valid ID proving they are over the age of eighteen.
What's On
You can now spend the night at a haunted museum sleeping in a bodybag
This experience is not for the faint-hearted…
Calling all horror fans: You can now spend the night sleeping in a bodybag in an actual haunted museum.
Held at the Haunted Museum and Spirit Shop Stoke in Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent, the popular Ghost Hunters of Stoke team will be giving keen ghost-hunters the opportunity to partake in their very own ghost hunt.
They are offering visitors guided tours, tarot card readings, a seance and spirit board sessions and haunted sleepovers – with the chance to sleep in an actual bodybag, too.
Ghost Hunters of Stoke on Trent / Facebook
The museum boasts ghostly artefacts from all over the world, including a poltergeist mirror containing the spirit of a ‘little girl and a shadow person’ and a replica of the famous Annabelle Doll.
Business owners and long-time ghost hunters Craig Longson and Jason Dean wanted to create somewhere that could put Stoke-on-Trent on the map as a paranormal destination.
Craig told Stoke on Trent Live: “I’ve always wanted to open something like this… We took on the building five weeks ago, and a lot of hard work has gone into turning it into what you see now. We want to give people the wow factor.
“Whether you’re part of an investigations team, or a member of the public, there will always be team members on hand to help. We’ve got the most advanced equipment from all across the world, so we can give everyone the ultimate experience, all under one roof.”
Ghost Hunters of Stoke on Trent / Facebook
Lead investigator Justine Farley also added: “With the space that we’ve got, we’ve got the opportunity to change things up quite regularly, if we want to. As we get new artefacts, we can move things around and add new things. Our team have also got such unique ideas so we can keep things fresh.”
And for any skeptics out there, the ghost hunters themselves claim to have witnessed genuine paranormal activity in the building. Craig said: “Occasionally… It depends what happens. If you’re in a pitch black room and you see something or feel something.”
Justine added: “We’ve all felt that shiver from the top of your head, all the way down to your toes. When we’ve witnessed things like the pram moving on our live video, it made us all go completely cold. It’s a heavy pram, with metal wheels. Witnessing something like that is just amazing.”
You can find out more about The Haunted Museum and Spirit Shop on Facebook, and also keep up to date with the latest investigations from Ghost Hunters of Stoke-on-Trent on Facebook and YouTube.
What's On
The Cube Live Experience is coming to the Arndale if you’re up to the challenge
Know anyone who could take this on?
A live experience version of the hit ITV gameshow The Cube is set to land at Manchester’s Arndale, new plans have revealed today.
First airing back in 2009, The Cube sees contestants complete a variety of physically and mentally challenging tasks from within a 4m × 4m × 4m perspex cube in order to win a top prize of £250,000.
The show has proven to be a huge hit among viewers at home and now, they will get the chance to compete in the famed cube themselves.
Urban Playground
Urban Playground, the entertainment complex nestled within the Arndale, has announced that The Cube Live Experience will be coming to the shopping centre for guests to partake in their very own gameshow.
The Cube Live will feature a whole array of the most popular games and challenges from the original TV series, and will allow teams of up to four to compete as both single and two players.
According to Urban Playground, participants will have to ‘overcome extreme nerves and intense pressure’ to take on the ‘deceptively simple’ tasks.
Urban Playground
The Cube Live will also come with its very own Cube Bar for participants to enjoy a celebratory drink after their challenge (or one to soften the blow of being defeated by a Cube, in some instances.)
While it is known that The Cube Live Experience will definitely be located in the Arndale, further details surrounding the exact location and opening date are yet to be revealed.
But to be the first to hear news and updates on the opening date and ticket sales, register your interest here.
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