Italian Festival Fills The Towbes Plaza With Food, Entertainment and Vendors

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – This weekend you can get the feel of Italy without leaving downtown Santa Barbara.

The first ever La Piazza festival is celebrating Italian culture and the European lifestyle.

It will be held in the Michael Towbes plaza at the Santa Barbara Library.

Friday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. there will be an open air concert titled "Amore Italiano: Rome, Cinema, and the Music of the Heart," featuring the combined talents of Jacopo Giacopuzzi and Alvise Pascucci on piano, Camille Miller on violin, and Tommaso Benciolini on flute.

It will be followed by a full day on Saturday and Sunday with food, discussions and more music between noon and 4:30 p.m.

The organizer worked with the library on the use of this new space, and also received a grant to help put on the show.

Executive Director of the Santa Barbara Public Library Foundation, Lauren Trujillo, says the promoter is offering music, art, culture, food, and kind of a little bit of everything and a taste of Italy here in Santa Barbara. He wants to bring to life the plaza feeling you get in Italy.

Vendors will have a marketplace as part of the festive day.

This is a free event.

For more information go to : La Piazza