Mississauga ITALFEST’s Heritage & Cultural Centre features displays and exhibits which bring to life the journey, joys and struggles of Italian immigrants in Mississauga including those who worked at the Cooksville Brickworks.
Features this year include an exhibit marking the 500th Anniversary of the passing of Leonardo Da Vinci sponsored by Villa Charities, an antique gramophone, the immigration story of the Petrucci Family of Palma Pasta fame and a spotlight on the incredible region of Matera, Basilicata, a Unesco World Heritage site also named the 2019 European Capital of Culture and known for its historical centre “Sassi” containing ancient cave dwellings. Visitors will be taken back in time and walk through a replica of a cave home built into the white stone of Matera where families and their animals lived together.
Visit the Heritage Centre inside the Glass Pavillion and don’t forget to take your photo by our Gondola.
Military and police representatives such as the “Bresaglieri”, “Carabenieri”, “Gli Alpini” and “Polizia” will also honour the event with their presence and traditional marches.
Matera is a city on a rocky outcrop in the region of Basilicata, in southern Italy. At the ‘instep’ of Italy’s boot — between the toe in Calabria and the heel in Puglia — with two coastlines on its edges, Matera is one of the oldest continually inhabited places on earth, behind Aleppo and Jericho. The town lies in a small canyon carved out by the Gravina. Known as la città sotterranea (“the underground city”), its historical centre “Sassi” – a complex of cave dwellings carved into the mountainside – along with the park of the Rupestrian Churches, was awarded World Heritage Site status by UNESCO since 1993. Evacuated in 1952 due to poor living conditions, the Sassi now houses museums like the Casa Grotta di Vico Solitario, with period furniture and artisan tools. Nearby rock churches include St. Lucia alle Malve, with 13th-century frescoes.
