This Tuesday, a luncheon organized by Associate Professor of Italian Studies at UCSB Claudio Fogu to host the Italian Consulate of Los Angeles was supposed to feature one of the world’s top acrobatic air force squadrons: the Frecce Tricolori (the Tricolor Arrows). Leading up to the event, however, the show over East Beach was canceled, which we have the marine layer to thank for.

But just as one display of cultural appreciation was canceled, another more than made up for it. Fogu, Valentina Padula, Director of the Italian Language Program at UCSB, and Renato Moisio of Via Maestra, created a cultural epicenter for Italians and Italian-Americans throughout Southern California.