Oct 2, 2015 2 min read

To help kick off Italian Heritage Month in Pittsburgh, the Senator John Heinz History Center will host the second annual Italian Heritage Day from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday.

The event will feature interactive activities designed for the entire family. Visitors will be encouraged to:

• Sample Italian foods from Pittsburgh vendors;

• Learn basic Italian vocabulary with La Scuola d’Italia Galileo Galilei;

• Explore their family tree with Roots in the Boot in the History Center’s Detre Library and Archives;

• Test their skills on the bocce court with help from Major League Bocce;

• Learn traditional Italian folk dancing with Allegro Dance Company, which will perform at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

• Take a virtual tour of Italy through arts and crafts with Mondo Italiano;

• Enjoy live entertainment provided by Italian tenor Marco Fiorante at 11:45 a.m. and 12:45 and 1:45 p.m. in the first-floor Great Hall and Edwardo the Accordionist.

Italian-American cooking demonstrations will be held in the museum’s Weisbrod Kitchen classroom as follows:

• 10:30 a.m. – “Making Gnocchi” with Maria Palmieri of Merante Gifts;

• Noon – “The Ins and Outs of Grappa,” an Italian spirit, with Wigle Whiskey;

• 2 p.m. – Italian cooking with Rizzi DeFabo of Rizzo’s Malabar Inn.

Italian Heritage Day also will feature an Italian-American bazaar in the fifth-floor Mueller Center, with vendors and outreach tables from local Italian heritage groups, including Roots in the Boot, the University of Pittsburgh’s Italian Nationality Room, Lucchesi Nel Mondo, Mondo Italiano, Societá Dante Alighieri, Ciao Pittsburgh, Calabria Club, University of Pittsburgh European Studies Center and Robert Morris University’s Voci Italiane.

Those 17 and younger will be admitted free. Regular admission rates apply for those 18 and older follows: adults, $16; senior citizens, $14; and students, $6.50