Celebrate a Special Italian Festa

Celebrate a Special Italian Festa With SFIAC in North Beach

The San Francisco Italian Athletic Club and the Northern California Italian-American community are poised to celebrate Festa Coloniale Italiana, August 16, on San Francisco's Washington Square. The all-day festival, which highlights the San Francisco Italian Athletic Club's 90th Anniversary and founding of the North Beach Italian historical district, is free and open to the public.

The event will include Italian music and entertainment, historic notes by Mayor Gavin Newsom and former Supervisor Angela Alioto along with Supervisor Aaron Peskin and local historians.

Traditional Italian food and drink as well as thematic arts and crafts will be available beginning at 11 AM, along with free tours of the impressive SFIAC building-longtime site of many weddings and other memorable events. A modestly priced traditional Italian dinner will be offered in the SFIAC ballroom at the conclusion of the day's events, around 5 PM.

Featured among favorite North Beach musicians and entertainers for the festival are: Aurora Mandolin Orchestra, Trio Amore, Bella Ciao, Steve Albini Quartet, The Rat Pack and The Ricco Dancers.

“The San Francisco Italian Athletic Club is the city's oldest continually operating Italian cultural, social and athletic organization,” SFIAC President Steve Landi told Rudy Giuliani at the former New York Mayor's recent membership initiation. “Our Club is the heart of North Beach's Italian community, just as neighboring Saints Peter and Paul Church is the soul.”

The dream of establishing a great athletic and social club in the Italian community has its roots in 1918 when several San Francisco sports clubs evolved and eventually merged into today's SFIAC. In 1936, under the banner Italian Athletic Club, pioneer members moved to the current location at 1630 Stockton Street.

History of Italian North Beach began long before a sports club was envisioned. In 1851, the newspaper L'Eco d'Italia estimated there were 600 Italians in San Francisco-mostly men from northern Italy who had come to work, to save, and to return home. By 1900, half of all city immigrants came from only four Italian regions: Genoa, Lucca, Cosenza, and Palermo.

Today, SFIAC members come from all regions and walks of life and have worked in every field imaginable-from carpenters to Coppolas. Though it is, by tradition, an Italian Men's Club, the club opens its doors to men and women of all cultures and backgrounds for sports and social events. For more information, visit www.SFIAC.org.

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