Sudbury’s Italian Connection: Food, History, and Community in Northern Ontario

For Sudbury’s Italian community, appreciation for history and heritage runs deep.

Italian immigrants first came to Sudbury in the late 1800s to meet labour demands in the city’s nickel and copper mines, shaping neighbourhoods like Copper Cliff and helping to build Northern Ontario’s largest city.

The lives of these early labourers weren’t easy. In fact, they were nicknamed “the pick and shovel brigade”, an homage to their exhaustive work. They helped build Sudbury, literally and metaphorically, and their descendants and the thousands of Italians who have immigrated to Sudbury since celebrate them to this day.

Copper Cliff: The Historic Heart of Sudbury’s Italian Community

That sense of pride in their accomplishments is strong, both in Sudbury and Italy. A group from Fano, Italy, even came to Sudbury in 2025 to further research the connection between their region and Sudbury’s Copper Cliff neighbourhood, which generations of Italian-Canadians have called home. All told, Italians represent more than 12% of Sudbury’s diverse immigrant population.

However, the exact numbers aren’t important here because the minute you visit an Italian shop, bakery, or restaurant, you become one of the family. Here’s how you can celebrate and commemorate Sudbury’s remarkable Italian culture.

Experiencing Italian Culture in Sudbury Today

Discover Sudbury’s Italian History at the Copper Cliff Museum

At this tiny museum (which has limited seasonal hours), you step back in time when you enter the 1890s log cabin that’s located on the site of Copper Cliff’s first dwelling. Many of the city’s earliest Italian immigrants lived in Copper Cliff, and the museum is a lovely little spot to learn about the area’s early days and the history of mining in Sudbury.

Italian Festivals and Summer Celebrations in Sudbury

Sudbury’s Italian community is eager to welcome you (and feed you!) all year long, but if you’re able to visit in early July, you should. That’s when the city celebrates its annual Italian Festival. Hosted by the Caruso Club, this festival features live music, plenty of kid-friendly activities, a bocce tournament, and special dinner menus inspired by different regions of Italy. Best of all: There’s a spaghetti-eating contest! Speaking of spaghetti and good eats…

Savour the Tastes and Traditions: Where To Eat Italian Food in Sudbury

Regency Bakery

At this community institution (founded in 1984), visitors can feast on traditional Italian desserts, including tiramisu and cannoli, as well as Canadian classics like peanut butter cookies. However, it’s not all about the sweet tooth at Regency Bakery; the deli section offers over 70 varieties of cheese, plus deli meats, sausages, and porketta. (Porketta is a richly seasoned boneless Italian pork roast, and in Sudbury, it’s often flavoured with dill, pepper, and garlic—more on that later.) If you’re assembling your own picnic, be sure to ask about their Calabrese bread; Regency’s founder, Elio Massimiliano, was originally from a small village in Calabria called Laurignano.

D&A Fine Meats

D&A Fine Meats might not be the first place you think about for a travel destination (this is a butcher shop, after all, and a mighty fine one at that). But if you’re staying in rental accommodation and taking care of your own cooking, you’ll want to have them at the top of your list, as they can customize your order for easy cooking and no leftovers (unless you want them, of course!). However, their menu isn’t limited to fish, pork, and sausages. You can also grab deli meat, cheese, baked goods, produce, soup, and pantry items.

My Mother’s Place

With homemade pasta, fine olive oil and vinegars, and sauces inspired by the owner’s family roots in Tuscany and Umbria, you’d be forgiven for thinking that My Mother’s Place is just a cute space for grabbing some delicious eats. There’s a lot more here than meets the eye! They have a demonstration kitchen and offer cooking classes (past events include a truffle ‘taste and learn’ and pasta making nights). If that wasn’t enough, they also offer a beautiful selection of Italian and Canadian gift items.

Verdicchio

For wine lovers, “verdicchio” means the white Italian grape known for producing crisp, acidic wines. But for food lovers in Sudbury, Verdicchio means so much more. This farm-to-table inspired restaurant and wine bar delivers a meal you’ll be dreaming about for a long time. Depending on the season, your menu might include bigne salate (crispy cauliflower fritti tossed with mint, parsley, and white wine vinaigrette and served with smoked paprika aioli), picatta di pollo (seared farm-raised chicken thighs with lemon piccata sauce, chard from nearby Manitoulin Island, farm vegetables, and herb roasted fingerling potatoes) or semifreddo di nociola (toasted hazelnut semifreddo with salted graham crumble, burnt meringue, and dark chocolate ganache). Yes, you can also get a bottle of verdicchio while you’re there!

Bella Vita Cucina

At Bella Vita Cucina, you can expect classic Italian ingredients reimagined in a contemporary way. There’s comfort food a’plenty (including fettuccine carbonara, fried calamari, and veal scaloppini) and a number of dishes inspired by chef Filippo Rocca’s Calabrian childhood. Still, we’d be remiss if we didn’t nudge you towards the pizza (with crust that’s made according to Nonna Lina’s recipe!). The Leonardo, in particular, is a standout with mushrooms, smoked Scamorza cheese, and sliced prosciutto.

Cara’s Convenience and Deli

At Cara’s Convenience and Deli, you’ll find the perfect little spot to grab a light lunch. Wait, did we say light? The only thing light here is the prices. The ample sandwiches—a mix of Italian and Canadian ingredients and inspiration—are hearty hugs of a meal. Their signature combo is The Paul Bunyan: a bun that’s loaded with ham, turkey, roast beef, pastrami, capicola, and salami, then topped with lettuce, onions, and cheese. Keep your eyes open for specials featuring products from Tarini Bros, who run a fish and meat shop (people are still talking about how Cara’s incorporated their smoked rainbow trout into a creamy sandwich filling!).

Caruso Club

Thanks to the perseverance of Luigi Battaino, Antonio Buttazzoni, and many others, Sudbury’s Italian community realized its dream of having a local Italian club. Today, the Caruso Club is one of the most significant venues of its kind in the province, and, thanks to its catering services and banquet venue, it’s a popular spot for weddings, birthdays, anniversaries and more. However, you don’t have to crash someone’s retirement party to eat their famous food. Their buffet is arguably one of the best deals in Sudbury, costing around $20 at lunch and under $30 at dinner.

Play for Pride and Porketta in Sudbury

Want to have some real Sudburian bragging rights? You need to go to bingo—porketta bingo, that is.

Classic bingo is a game in which players mark off numbers as they’re drawn randomly by a caller. The first person to mark off all the numbers in a row or according to a certain pattern is the winner—at least, that’s how it goes everywhere else, and there’s usually no connection to pork! But in Sudbury, things are a little bit different.

Porketta bingo players get a laminated set of three regular playing cards. The aim is to match their set of cards with the ones that the caller calls out at random. With your winning set in hand, you don’t yell out “Bingo!” Yep, you guessed it…you yell “porketta!” When you win at porketta bingo, there’s no cash prize to claim. Instead, you’ll get a yummy portion of porketta to eat then and there, and there are other food-based prizes as well. This only-in-Sudbury tradition is a joy-filled spectacle that’s equal parts fierce competition and good-natured fun, and it may just be the best thing you do on your trip.

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