2025 La Festa Italiana, Scranton, PA.

Scranton’s yearly Italian festival runs in the heart of downtown Scranton and it’s a fairly big one (that’s what she said).

Next year, I will try to do this festival more justice and get a hotel room so I can eat more food. Everything we had was pretty good and it would be great to figure out the absolute best food items. I didn’t pace myself and went into this festival fast and hard (that’s what she said), so I didn’t get to eat a lot of the things I scoped out while walking around before the festival started.

No need to stress about parking—there are lots of garages, and street parking’s free on weekends, at least that’s what the camera guy from WYOU told me, so if you get a ticket, it’s his fault. Get there early and you’ll probably find a spot right outside the festival.

Leonor’s Eatery

Mangonadas: 9.5, absolutely delicious and somewhat unique.

Unico - Scranton Chapter

Porketta Sandwich: 7.5/10. Some say this is the best Porketta at the festival. I would say that it was okay, but it needs a topping. It sort of tasted like turkey in a weird way, but was still good.

Sabatelle’s

Porketta Sandwich with the Works: 6.5/10. The porketta was not as good as Unico, but the toppings were good, which made it okay.

Sweet Tea: 4/10. This was not sweet tea, it was more like Lipton lemon tea. It was drinkable, but false advertising imo.

Electric City Pizzeria

Buffalo Chicken Pizza: 5/10

Pepperoni Pizza: 6/10

There are some reddit posts that suggest this as being the best pizza at the festival and they are absolutely wrong!

Carmella’s

Tomato Pie: 8/10

This was pretty good. It’s served cold and you have to like tomato pizza. I haven’t had it a lot, but this was probably one of the better ones that I’ve had.

Luigi’s

Pepperoni Pizza: 9/10

There’s a lot of pizza at this festival and I didn’t get to try most of it, but from what I did try, this was the best! That classic New York style greasy pizza!

Novello’s

Pepperoni Pizza: 6/10

Had a good crust, but it struck out.

Colarusso’s

Fresh Tomato Pizza: 7/10.

It was very fresh, but nothing really special. They have a bunch of pasta dishes that look phenomenal.

Dino Argo Catering

Meatball: 7.5/10

Villa Maria Restaurante

Porketta with Broccoli Rob: 6.5/10.

Pepper Shooter Salad: 8.5/10.

Sausage and Pepper Sandwich: 7/10. This is a bit different, it’s a round patty served on a bagel. On top of that, the peppers are super hot, to the point where your nose starts running. If you’re going to eat this, you will most likely have an emergency at some point and you better hope there are open porta potties, or you’re going to be in real trouble.