Forum Lodge #391 of the Order Sons and Daughters of Italy in America will mark its 32nd annual celebration of Newport’s Italian heritage with six events between Sept. 25 and Oct. 16.
The run opens Friday, Sept. 25, with the John Panaggio Original Ziti Night at Vasco da Gama Hall, 15 Fenner Ave., from 5 to 7 p.m. Tickets are $35 for adults and $10 for children under 12, with raffle baskets and a 50/50, benefiting the Anna M. Ripa Memorial Scholarship Fund. Reservations go through Shirley at 401-662-7543.
Two Italian films screen at 6 p.m. at 21 Bay Ridge Drive in Middletown — “Il Mostro” on Tuesday, Sept. 29, and “Uncle Nino” on Tuesday, Oct. 6. Both are free, but reservations are required at the same number.
Festival on the Lawn takes over Vasco da Gama Hall on Saturday, Oct. 3, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., rain or shine, moving indoors if the weather turns. Calabria Bella provides the music, with doughboys, pizza, Italian desserts, raffle baskets and face painting. Elmo will visit.
Columbus Day, Monday, Oct. 12, begins with a 10:30 a.m. Mass at St. Joseph’s Church at Broadway and Mann Avenue in memory of deceased members of Aquidneck Island’s Italian-American community, followed by a wreath laying at the Columbus Monument at Memorial Boulevard and Bellevue Avenue at 11:30 a.m. The lodge will present its first Italian Heritage Award there to Sean Napolitano. A luncheon follows at 12:30 p.m. at Sardella’s, 30 Memorial Blvd. West, with music by Calabria Bella. Tickets are $30 through Sandra at 401-378-7554.
The celebration closes Friday, Oct. 16, with Steven Palumbo in concert in the John Clarke Room at the Wyndham Hotel, 240 Aquidneck Ave., Middletown. Appetizers at 6 p.m., concert at 7, tickets $55. Proceeds support the Sen. John O. Pastore Cultural Travel Scholarships, which send Aquidneck Island high school students to Imperia, Newport’s sister city in Italy. Reservations go through Diane at 401-662-7169.
