TORONTO – Toronto’s Italian Heritage Month couldn’t have started in a better way: after the flag raising in Queen’s Park last Monday, it was the turn of the Italian National Day successfully organized on Wednesday evening by the Consulate General of Italy at the Liberty Grand Entertainment Complex.

The guests – around five hundred people present – were welcomed by the Consul General Luca Zelioli, the Consul Giulia Romani and the Director of the Italian Cultural Institute of Toronto, Veronica Manson (in the video above, a moment of the “welcoming”), in a Governor’s Room illuminated in white-red-and-green and pervaded by the delicious aromas of the many culinary delicacies prepared on site, live, by many of the protagonists of Italian restaurants in Toronto and in the GTA: all of this, while a string quartet made the notes of some of the most beautiful Italian melodies resonate in the air.

After the welcome in the room, and after the inevitable Mameli Hymn (in the video above) performed by the string quartet, the interventions of the authorities began: the Minister of Education of Ontario, Stephen Lecce, spoke and the Consul General Luca Zelioli (in the two videos below).

A video sent for the occasion by the Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani was also broadcast. Zelioli himself then presented the Italian National Day awards to Stefano Riolo, Domenico Siniscalco and Deborah Verginella who collected the award for her husband Corrado Paina, former Director of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, who recently passed away.

The party continued with tastings of many typical Italian products and dishes such as arancini, gnocchi with pesto, rigatoni all’arrabbiata, salami and cheeses, desserts and of course the real, artisanal ice cream.

Among those present, the Editor of the Corriere Canadese, Honorable Joe Volpe, and many political exponents and representatives of associations and organizations of the Italian community in Toronto (but also from Kitchener, Hamilton, Guelph, Niagara Falls, Oshawa and Vaughan), who gathered for an evening under the aegis of the Italian Consulate General in Toronto.

All photos and videos by Marzio Pelù – Corriere Canadese