For Sydney’s Leichhardt district, the tricolour Norton Street Italian Festa is just around the corner.

On Sunday October 30, from 10 am to 5 pm, Norton Street will be completely transformed by the colours, sounds and aromas of great Italian food, activities and live entertainment. The event will celebrate all things Italian, paying homage to the traditions of the Bel Paese.

But what is the history of this event, which every year, with the exception of the pandemic, has blocked off the main street of the neighbourhood to paint the town green, white and red?

It all started in 1986, thanks to the Cappuccini Friars of St Fiacre's Church in Leichhardt, who wanted to recreate Italy’s religious festivities. The original inspiration seems to have been the festivals which celebrate the patron saints emblematic of various religious congregations. The Cappuccini friars had already organised feast days for St Catherine, St Sebastian and St Bartholomew, and all of these religious events took place in the parish every year.

Slowly but surely, because of increasing public attendance, they moved to the park that used to be near the Apia Club, which no longer exists and has been replaced by Le Montage. This was a park in which outdoor festivals with market stalls were commonplace.

Brian Gold, president of the now defunct West Gate Chamber of Commerce and the owner of an estate agency in Annandale, first began involving shopkeepers in the Italian Festa, creating an opportunity for local traders to showcase their wares in the first iteration of the event as we now know it.

So, in 1987, the first festival on Norton Street took place, and the public, used to attending religious festivals, wondered: "But there is no saint?"

The festival, emblematic of Sydney's Italian community, celebrates its 36th anniversary this year. In the heart of 'Little Italy', more than 140,000 visitors are expected to flock to Norton Street for the Italian food and entertainment of this much-anticipated festival.

Norton Street in Leichhardt has long been the emotional and physical centre of the Italian community in Sydney, and is now known as 'Little Italy'. It was the first stop for many, if not most, Italians who landed in the New South Wales capital. Italians planted firm roots in Leichhardt: from those who established its thriving community to the many that used it as a stopping point to seek work in the cane fields of Queensland or elsewhere.  

Among the prominent figures who will attend the event is Italian Ambassador to Australia Paolo Crudele. In an interview granted to Rete Italia last week, the diplomat announced that he will take time out of his busy schedule to host the Festa, and even take part in a meeting with the Italian community at the Marconi Club in Bossley Park.