Day One: Venetian Mask Photo Booth
Print out some venetian masks for residents to color. Decorate masks and take photo booth style pictures with them. I would also recommend some feather boas or some fun beaded necklaces.
Day Two: Roman Holiday Movie Matinee
Watch the classic film Roman Holiday. It stars Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. It is available free on Tubi (with ads). Other movies I would recommend for this week would be Three Coins in the Fountain, Letters to Juliet , Eat Pray Love, La Dolce Vita, and The Godfather depending on what your resident's would like and what is appropriate for your community.
Day Three: DIY Pizza
Follow this recipe for the dough and have some already prepped before and leave one batch unprepped for the demonstration on how to make the dough. Other ingredients you will need is cheese and tomato sauce. Alternatively, you could buy a pre-made pizza kit like this one from Chef Boyardee. Bring other toppings your residents might enjoy, like pepperoni, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, basil, chunks of mozzarella, etc. If your facility allows, bring a convection oven and prepare the pizzas right there. Otherwise, prepare the pizzas and send them to the kitchen to cook. While they bake, do some pizza and Italian food trivia.
Day Four: Coin Toss into the Trevi Fountain Cart
This betting game will tell you if your wish comes true! Set up your cart to look like the Trevi Fountain. To play the game, the resident will choose if they want to bet head or tails. Have them or you toss 5 coins on the cart. If they have a majority of the coins up with the side that they bet, then their wish comes true. They can pick a prize from a prize basket. Below is my rough take of a Trevi Fountain cart design. I used this clipart picture, a large bowl, and a teal blue tablecloth. If you have the ability, I would recommend blowing up the picture of the fountain at a print shop.
Day Five: Italian Music
Ideally, get a live musician to play some classics from the famous Italian-American Crooners like Dean Martin, Perry Como, or Frank Sinatra. Otherwise I would recommend spending an afternoon enjoying coffee and biscotti while listening to these playlists:
Day Six: Bocce Ball Competition
Bocce Ball is a classic Italian game. With this kit you can play either outdoor or indoor (and won't scratch the floors). Instructions on how to play Bocce can be found here. I like to split the group into two teams and pair up one player from each team to play. Count up the amount of wins each team has, and the winning team gets these fun award certificates.
Day Seven: Ice Cream
For the last day, finish off with some delicious Italian ice creams. Italian Ice can be made using this recipe. If you want Gelato, I would pick some up at the store, as it is a bit more complex. Lastly you could go for Affogato; which is espresso topped with vanilla ice cream.
More Ideas and Resources
