The Little Italy Days festival in the heart of Pittsburgh's Bloomfield neighborhood is Italian heaven.

The city's largest heritage festival kicked off on Thursday and was packed with people enjoying Italian cuisine, culture, bocce and live music.

"Everybody's Italian this weekend," said Sal Richetti, event producer. "I'm native Italian American, so we're keeping a legendary tradition going."

Richetti said more than 100 vendors are set up along Liberty Avenue. More than half are selling food, and many are cooking up the Italian staples just like your nonna.

"This is the marinara sauce, we're doing sausage hoagies, then these are our meatballs, stuffed shells, pasta and cannolis," said Michael Vitanovich, owner of Tambellini Event Catering.

The festival is in its 25th year. Vitanovich s

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