Newmarket Business Association (NBA) has announced today that Festival Italiano, scheduled to be held in Newmarket on Sunday 20th March 2022 has now been rescheduled to 13th November 2022.

NBA CEO Mark Knoff-Thomas said “This is the second time we have had to reschedule this iconic Auckland event. Along with many others, we are disappointed to not be able to hold the Festival in March. But due to the ongoing uncertainty of COVID, and the requirements for events under red or orange Traffic Light settings, it makes it very challenging to run a street festival and ensure all regulations are followed. We believe a further delay is the most responsible and practical approach. A lot of hard work and planning has already taken place and in order to give this signature event some certainty, November seems the best solution as this is a more realistic and achievable timeframe for some “normality”. It does regrettably mean that the festival will have been missed for an entire year.

Festival Italiano, New Zealand’s largest Italian street festival, typically attracts over 12,000 attendees, and has been hosted in Newmarket for the past 7 years. The Dante Alighieri Society has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the NBA to manage the event on its behalf.

Knoff-Thomas continues “A representative from the Waitemata Local Board, one of the festival’s major sponsors, was in agreement with the decision. The NBA would like to acknowledge the ongoing support of our sponsors,  including major sponsors Waitemata Local Board, Peroni, Aperol, SMEG and Rialto Centre. We look forward to seeing everyone on 13th November 2022.”