Great Italian Festival

The Eldorado Great Italian Festival turns downtown Reno into Little Italy, with a grape stomp, a wine walk, a gelato eating contest and an Italian farmer's market. Over a hundred vendors sell their products alongside food booths serving dishes such as fried ravioli, fried calamari and mushroom ravioli with porcini cream sauce, with gelato and cannolis for dessert. Musicians play the Rome and Venice stages, and in the Sauce Cook-off, Italian families from across the West Coast cook their recipes right on the street for guests to taste.

Our take: Buy a plate of pasta if you want a say in the Sauce Cook-off; People's Choice ballots come with the purchase.