BY TERRY FLYNN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
NEWPORT -- The city's Italian Festival that opens tonight for a long weekend of food, music and fun owes its life to Newport's Italian heritage and a neighborhood in south Newport fondly referred to as Spaghetti Nob.
IF YOU GO
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What: Italian Festival. Where: Newport Shopping Center. When: Opens at 6 p.m. today and closes at 10 p.m.; Friday, 5-11 p.m.; Saturday, noon-11 p.m.; Sunday, noon-9 p.m.
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Newport at first glance would seem an odd place for a large Italian-American community, but local history books and old newspaper clippings tell the story of an Italian influence that dates to immigrants moving here in the early 1900s.
"Most of the stories I've heard indicate that Italian immigrants came to the Cincinnati area looking for work and homes, and many of them settled on the Kentucky side of the river in the south of Newport because it was a better place to live and there was more work for them," said Frank Peluso, the city clerk and one of the people who started the festival seven years ago.
Some books from the period prior to 1900 indicate that Italian immigrants weren't warmly welcomed by the predominantly German population in Cincinnati.
Streets such as Amelia, Broadway and Main were inhabited by families such as the Pangallos, the Pelusos and the Guiduglis. Those names are still well known in Newport and Campbell County a century later.
"The Italian Festival is a reflection of the strong family ties in the Italian community and the city in general," Mr. Peluso said.
"My fondest memories are of the family gatherings when I was a kid," he said. "I still remember going to old Coney Island for Italian Day. I could be eating with my family at one of the big wooden tables in the picnic grove, and the next thing I'd be sharing food with another family nearby. I will always cherish that.
"It's the same feeling we get with the Italian Festival." He said it's perfectly normal for entire families from both sides of the Ohio River to meet at the festival, almost like a reunion. "If you've lived here very long, you will see a lot of people you know, and that's what we think is important about the festival." Preparing for four days of merriment is no small task, but Sal Wertheim, the city's special events coordinator, almost made it look easy as he commanded a small army of workers setting up tents, tables and booths on Wednesday.
"It gets a little hectic sometimes, but it's not too bad," he said. "I was part of the creation of this festival, and I still enjoy watching it take shape."
Mr. Wertheim, who owns a German restaurant that bears his name in Covington, started working with Mr. Peluso and others as a volunteer when the festival was formed.
"The volunteer thing was OK for a while, but eventually I started getting paid and that's better," he said.
Like any good Italian family gathering, the "festa Italiana" that continues through Sunday at the Newport Shopping Center features good food from a variety of Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati Italian restaurants.
Tonight, the festival features opera selections sung by local artists and performed on a stage that faces the main walkway around the food booths.
"It's a way of saying thank you to Greater Cincinnati for making Newport the city it is today," Mr. Peluso said.
Fridayis the annual 5K Spaghetti Nob run - fitness walk which begins on Kentucky Drive across from the shopping center.
