By Jacqueline Hlavenka

Decked-out in a sea of red, white and green, visitors and University students flooded South Campus for the 14th Annual Italian Experience Festival on Sept. 17 showing both their Italian and school pride.The festival, separated into four different sections on campus, featured various merchants, crafters, musicians and writers. It celebrated the rich and diverse cultural traditions of Old World Italy and its modern influence on the Long Island community. “Everyone here is Italian today, even if you’re not,” Bob Spiotto, a Queens native and entertainment producer of the event, said. “I like to think of the Festival as an extended family,” Spiotto added. “Like a good Italian family, this is a ritual-a community, a family. That’s why people come back for more every year.” Opening the festivities, guitarist/vocalist Angelo Giudici and accordionist Federico Perruzza entertained the crowds outside Memorial Hall with traditional Italian folk music, waltzes and mazurkas. On the Verdi stage, Danielle Reed, a freshman vocal performance major who is proficient on more than 10 instruments, sung the Italian and American National Anthems. “For the Italian National Anthem, I learned the basic meaning behind the words to express them musically,” Reed said. Other precocious young talents were featured during the “Voices of Italy” segment. Soprano John Dautzenberg played piano and sang Italian standards such as “Ave Maria” and “Creator of the Starry Sky.” Julliard graduate student Jeanette Baxter Vecchione blew the audience away with her definitive and powerful voice. Children crowded around Katie’s Puppet Show near Café on the Quad and “The Servant of Two Masters,” which featured classic Italian comedy. Folk dance group I Paesani and soloists from the Bronx Opera Company were also audience favorites. The Italian-American Poets and Writers Piazza lead a daylong poetry reading in Emily Lowe Hall. Poet Robert Viscusi read selections about memory and family from his nostalgic and humorous book, “A New Geography of Time.” Fine wine and pasta dishes were served courtesy of Spumante Italian Restaurant of East Meadow. Other vendors sold jewelry, crafts, children’s books, candles and gift baskets. Non-profit organizations displayed exhibits that preserve family history, celebrate heritage, and show how to trace one’s family genealogy. Closing the ceremony with the Long Island Mandolin and Guitar Orchestra, audience members sang along with the melody of “Ferry Boat Serenade,” popular among the crowd each year.

Dancers entertain at the University’s Italian festival.