The Lygon Street Festa and the story of Melbourne's Little Italy, plus what to eat on Lygon Street, what to buy at the delis and an Italian menu to cook at home.
For more than 40 years the Lygon Street Festa was Melbourne's great Italian street party. Lygon Street would close to cars, the footpaths filled with food stalls and music, and crowds of more than 100,000 came to Carlton to eat, watch the waiters' race and cheer on people trying to climb a greasy pole. The Festa has been missing for a few years now, but there's a push to bring it back, with organisers aiming for a relaunch in 2027.
Festa or no Festa, Lygon Street is still one of the best places in Melbourne to eat Italian food and stock an Italian pantry. Here's a bit of history, what to eat, what to buy, and an easy menu to cook at home.
Little Italy and the Lygon Street Festa
The Italian story of Lygon Street really took off in the 1950s, when Italian families who'd migrated after the war settled in Carlton and opened cafés, grocers and restaurants. The street claims the first espresso machine installed in Australia, and Toto's Pizza House, which opened at the city end of Lygon Street in 1961, is often called the country's first pizzeria. A lot of what Australians now think of as normal (a short black at a bar, a pizza on a Friday night) started in a few blocks of Carlton.
The first Lygon Street Festa was held in 1978, organised by the Carlton Traders' Association alongside an Italian arts festival. Lygon Street closed between Elgin and Queensberry streets for the weekend, and the program had music, street theatre, food stalls and contests like the waiters' race, where waiters sprinted down the street with loaded trays. In 2004 it was renamed Festa Primavera and moved its focus to Argyle Square, just off Lygon Street, and over the years it shrank until it disappeared. The relaunch campaign has backing from local traders and support from the City of Melbourne and the state government, so keep an eye out.
In the meantime, CO.AS.IT, the Italian community organisation, runs the Italian Festa and Expo nearby at the Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton each October, which is worth a visit for the food stalls and tastings.
What to eat on Lygon Street
Start the way the street started, with coffee. Order an espresso and drink it standing at the bar like the regulars do. It's quick, it's strong, and it's how coffee was meant to be served in the old Lygon Street cafés.
Then the pastries. Cannoli are crisp fried tubes filled with sweet ricotta, often with candied peel or chocolate. The best places fill them to order so the shell stays crunchy, so if you see a tray of pre-filled ones, keep walking. Sfogliatelle are shell-shaped pastries from Naples with dozens of crackly layers around a semolina and ricotta filling, best eaten warm. Arancini, fried rice balls with ragù or mozzarella in the middle, make a good snack while you walk.
For a sit-down meal, keep it simple. Pizza is a must on the street that gave Australia its first pizzeria. Look for a thin base with a blistered, puffy edge (the cornicione) and not too many toppings. A plate of pasta is the other obvious choice, and if the menu changes with the season, that's a good sign. Finish with gelato, and try the flavours that are hard to fake, like pistachio and hazelnut.
What to buy at the delis
The Italian delis around Carlton are where you build a proper pantry. Ask for prosciutto sliced to order and as thin as they can cut it. It should be almost see-through, and a good deli will lay each slice on paper so it doesn't stick together. Buy Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padano as a wedge, not pre-grated, because it keeps far better and tastes sweeter. Pecorino Romano is the sharper sheep's milk cheese you need for Roman pastas.
While you're there, grab a bag of 00 flour for fresh pasta and pizza, bronze-die dried pasta (it has a rough surface that holds sauce), a tin of San Marzano tomatoes and a bottle of good extra virgin olive oil for finishing dishes. If you're coming from our side of town, the deli hall at the Queen Victoria Market is a short tram ride away and makes a good second stop.
[HA: ADD A LINE OF YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE WITH LYGON STREET HERE]
An Italian festa menu to cook at home
Bring the Festa to your own table with three courses that share well. Start with an antipasto board: your deli prosciutto, a wedge of cheese, olives, marinated capsicum and good bread. No cooking, just shopping.
For the main, make fresh fettuccine. It's easier than people think, and the ratio is simple:
- 100 g 00 flour per person
- 1 large egg per 100 g flour
- A pinch of salt
Make a well in the flour, crack in the eggs, and use a fork to slowly pull flour into the egg until it's too stiff to stir. Knead by hand for eight to ten minutes until the dough is smooth and springs back when you press it. Wrap it and rest for 30 minutes, then roll thin with a rolling pin or machine, dust with flour and cut into ribbons. Fresh pasta cooks in two to three minutes in well-salted water.
Toss it with burro e salvia (butter foamed with sage leaves until nutty) and a big handful of grated Parmigiano, loosened with a splash of the pasta water. That starchy water is the trick to a glossy sauce that clings to the pasta instead of pooling in the bowl. For dessert, a tiramisu made the day before is perfect for a crowd.
Cook Italian with us
If you'd like a hand with the pasta dough or want to learn a few classic sauces, our Italian Cooking Masterclass is three hours, completely hands-on, and ends with everyone sitting down to eat what they've made.
For birthdays, team days and get-togethers, a Pizza Making Party or Pasta Making Party turns the kitchen into your own little festa, with groups from 12 up to 60.
Visit Lygon Street with Otao Kitchen
We can organise a visit to Lygon Street for your group as part of a cooking experience at Otao Kitchen. To keep things comfortable for shoppers and fair to the traders, each visit is capped at 20 people. Larger groups are very welcome: we run rolling visits, so no more than 20 of your group are there at a time.
See our Melbourne Market Cooking Experience →
