October marks Italian Heritage Month in New York State, home to the largest population of Italian Americans in the country. Festivities in Buffalo kicked off Tuesday with a ceremony at City Hall, where speakers including Mayor Byron Brown were flanked by Hutch Tech High School Italian club members holding up the 20 regional flags of Italy.

“We are very proud to celebrate the rich Italian heritage that we have in the City of Buffalo that has helped to mold, shape and strengthen our city through the years,” Brown said. Italians started settling in Buffalo during the second half of the nineteenth century, with many arriving in the last two decades of the 1800s.