Perhaps we're a little biased, given our close proximity to the Italian Market and our obsession with delicious things like cheese, sausage, pasta, and cannoli. Still, we think this is pretty much the best weekend of the entire year. There's food, beer and wine as far as the eye can see, plus music, games, crafts, a kitschy-yet-serious parade of saints and plenty of great people watching.

9th Street will be closed from Fitzwater to Federal for the festivities, which kick off Friday night with a pastapalooza of sorts. The street fair begins in earnest on Saturday morning at 10:00 AM. If you're a meat-eater, don't miss the pork sandwiches, straight from the bristly roast pig to your hands. Dessert lovers can nab freshly-filled cannolis along with plenty of other sugary delights. Bowls of pepperoni and cheese, antipasto, ziti and spiked water ice are the perfect accompaniment to polyester-suited crooners belting out Frank Sinatra tunes.

Our suggestion: go with a group and get one of everything to split—except for the beer and wine. You'll probably want that all to yourself. Keep an eye out for the old guys in wifebeaters selling homemade wine, mostly south of Washington. It's potent stuff. And if you're lucky, they'll tell you tales of the good old days in South Philly.

Italian Market Festival
Saturday and Sunday, May 17-18, 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
9th Street, Bella Vista/South Philly
Free

Photo via Flickr user Lucius Kwok.