How North Beach Keeps Its Italian Culture Alive

The main event that takes place in North Beach to celebrate Italian culture is the Italian Heritage Parade of the United States. This parade attracts more than 150,000 people on average. This event is the area’s oldest civic event and the oldest Italian American Parade in America. You can learn more about it here. 

One specific restaurant, Francesco Covucci, is doing whatever it can to keep the Italian culture alive and well. Starting with the design of the restaurant, they developed a Neapolitan-style pizzeria and mozzarella bar and installed a wood-fire oven in order to properly cook the imported ingredients from his family back in Italy. 

The steps Covucci has taken to keep the culture alive have paid off as the residents of this area have convinced him to open two more Italian-based restaurants. The mission of all three restaurants has been to respect the Italian culinary favorites with an emphasis on the quality of ingredients being used. 

Lorenzo Scarpone

Lorenzo Scarpone, a fellow immigrant from Abruzzo, Italy established the Sotto Casa Italian specialty grocery store in 2019. Scarpone is a large proponent of encouraging Italian-American entrepreneurs to open their restaurants or food-related businesses in North Beach to keep the Italian culture flourishing. Check out some of our favorite Italian restaurants here.

Additionally, there are various organizations based in Italian culture that have arisen within North Beach. You can read all about the different groups to be a part of here.