Westchase’s Rossana Spallino, who sang at Tampa Bay’s first Italian Heritage Day, poses with honored guest, Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio.

Over 1,000 people attended the First Annual Italian Heritage Day celebration, held in downtown Tampa's Joe Chillura Park on Friday, April 7. Westchase resident Ray Chiaramonte assisted in organizing the event and played the role of master of ceremonies to honor the contributions of Italians in the development of both Hillsborough County and Tampa Bay.

Rossana Spallino, also a Westchase resident and native of Sicily, assisted by singing the national anthem and providing vocal entertainment for the Italian-themed event. Other entertainers from Agrigento, Sicily, also performed.

Rossana and her husband Jim Callan moved to Westchase in 2004 after visiting Jim's cousin, Ray Chiaramonte. They fell in love with the area and decided to move here after meeting Tampa’s large Italian community. Rossana found that she had many cousins in the area related to families in the Sicilian village in which she grew up.

                                                                                                                                            Rossana often sang in festivals in Sicily and now performs at the restaurant Il Terrazzo in the Tampa Marriott Waterside hotel in downtown Tampa. She also performs with Ray Chiaramonte at the Happy Fish Restaurant in West Tampa. Rossana also sings at the Openwater Church formerly known as Westchase Community Church.

Board of County Commission Chairman Jim Norman and Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio attended the Heritage Day and read proclamations about the contributions of Italians to our community.

USF professor Gary Mormino, who wrote a book on the history of Tampa's Italian community, provided interesting facts on how the Italians came and changed the future of the area. Several mayors of Tampa and Hillsborough County Commissioners such as Joe Chillura have been of Italian descent and greatly contributed to the area's development.

With the great success of the event, it will surely become an annual tradition.

West Park’s Ray Chiaramonte, one of the event’s organizers, served as Master of Ceremonies.