What you need to know about 2022 Little Italy Days

Pittsburgh’s annual Italian heritage festival is returning to Bloomfield starting on Thursday.

The four-day festival closes down sections of Liberty Avenue, is free to attend, and is filled with vendors, musical acts, and even a bocce court, with a tournament pitting local Irish-American officials against Italian-American celebrities, including Steelers legend Franco Harris.

Here is what you need to know about Little Italy Days.

History of Little Italy Days

Little Italy Days started in 2002 as a community festival to celebrate Bloomfield’s Italian heritage with a parade and party where local businesses and churches set up about a dozen or so booths selling Italian fare and goods.

In 2012, the event was taken over by festival organizer Sal Richetti, a native of Bloomfield, who expanded Little Italy Days’ scope with performance stages and additional vendors, some from out of the area. The festival now attracts hundreds of booths.

This transformed Little Italy Days into a massive street festival, and the crowds followed. Richetti has said the festival attracts more than 100,000 attendees over four days.

As Little Italy Days grew, it also started to garner some community pushback, with some businesses on Liberty Avenue and local residents criticizing the festival for becoming too disruptive. Some businesses even close up shop completely during Little Italy Days, even as others praise the extra business the festival brings.

What to eat?

With Little Italy Days being the largest heritage festival in Pittsburgh, there are scores of food vendors to choose from. Some of the easiest to notice are carnival-like vendors hawking funnel cake and chicken on a stick, but there are Italian treats to sample as well.

Merante’s, near the intersection of Liberty and Cedarville, sets up a large booth where Maria Merante and her team sell a wide array of homemade Italian dishes.

Caliente Pizza has a booth near their storefront on Liberty and Pearl, where festival-goers can grab some slices of their renowned pan pizza, and other pies.

The Little Italy Days website also encourages people to shop for goods at Groceria Bloomfield and large Italian dishes at Pleasure Bar, both located on Cedarville Street.

Who is performing?

Little Italy Days will have three stages this year: Cedarville and Liberty, the Froggy’s Stage at Taylor and Liberty, and the First Commonwealth Stage at Gross and Liberty.

The stage at Cedarville and Liberty will host the most acts, including Billy the Kid guitar player on Thursday at 6 p.m., Magic Moments oldies band on Friday at 6 p.m., Italian opera vocalist John Lupone on Saturday at 7 p.m.,

On Saturday, the Froggy’s Stage will host magician and balloon artist Billy Heh at 3 p.m. , followed by powerhouse rock band Elias Khouri and the EK Band at 7 p.m. On Sunday, Earth Wind & Fire tribute band Let’s Groove Tonight perform at 2:30 p.m.

The First Commonwealth Stage will host rock bands Blind Colours and Ugly Blondes on Saturday afternoon, and R&B band Mojo Hand at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

A full schedule of performers can be found at the Little Italy Days website.

Where to park?

Taking public transit to Little Italy Days is encouraged, as congestion typically floods Bloomfield during the festival. The 54, 64, 86, 87, 88 bus routes all travel through the neighborhood.

If you must drive, free parking is available at Liberty Avenue and Aspen Street and the UPMC Luna Garage on Baum Boulevard on Saturday and Sunday, which also provides a free shuttle to the festival.

There are also paid parking lots throughout the neighborhood, and on the streets, but those spots tend to fill up.

What are the hours?

Little Italy Days runs from 6-9 p.m. on Thursday, noon-9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and noon-6 p.m. on Sunday.