Modeled after the “Colosseum” itself, Mississauga ITALFEST’s Heritage Centre features interactive displays and exhibits in which visitors can experience Canadian Italian history. The Centre pays tribute to great Canadian-Italians and their accomplishments.
In partnership with Heritage Mississauga we bring to life the journey of Italian immigrants to Pier 21 and Ellis Island and the joys and struggles of early Italian immigrants in Mississauga including those who worked at the Brickworks.
On a huge map of Italy visitors are asked to put a red dot on the town or city they came from thus mapping the journey of Italian immigration to Mississauga.
Military and police representatives such as the “Bresaglieri”, “Carabenieri”, “Gli Alpini” and “Polizia” honour the event with their presence and traditional marches.
Each year the Heritage Centre will spotlight two key regions of Italy, displaying photography, art, furniture, music and various artifacts specific to the area. For 2016, the regions of focus are Abruzzo and Molise.
Though Italians traditionally think of Abruzzo as a remote, mountainous region, its eastern border is marked by vast sandy beaches stretching along the Adriatic north and south of Pescara. Venture west from here and you will indeed soon enter the hills, which rise quickly to become the infamous Abruzzo mountains, dotted with some of the least visited hill towns in Italy.
This is what our grandmothers called God’s country, site of the vast and extremely well administered Abruzzo National Park, one of the most important in all of Europe. Nearby is the newly-designated Maiella National Park, along with several regional parks. Flora and fauna abound in these protected areas, where thick forests and flowering meadows give way to barren high plains and snow-capped granite peaks. Europe’s southernmost glacier, the Calderone, extends from Corno Grande to Corno Piccolo, in the shadow of Gran Sasso, tallest peak on the Italian peninsula.
Molise is situated in south-central Italy and lies between the Apennine ridge and the Adriatic Sea. Nature, history, art, age-old traditions and good food are the treasures of this still largely-undiscovered region. Its mainly mountainous and hilly layout is scored by the characteristic tratturi, the historic trails of seasonal migration of people and livestock that join the pastures of Abruzzo to those of Apulia.
The National Park of Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise boasts magnificent landscapes, while the many nature reserves protect the vegetable and animal species representative of this area.
Discover the thousand years of history behind this region and its culture by visiting its archaeological sites, abbeys, small towns and countless castles.
The survival of customs and traditions, of handicrafts and the old professions that have disappeared elsewhere is a unique feature that makes Molise, just like the title of a book by Italian writer Antonio Fogazzaro, an “old-fashioned world”.
