Throngs fill Vaughan’s Market Lane, City Hall illuminates Italy's flag colours after European soccer win

Celebration comes as mass vaccination roll outs improve provincewide

Yorkregion.com
July 13, 2021
Dina Al-Shibeeb

Vaughan, home to a high concentration of Italian-Canadians and Canadians of Italian descent, had its own lively celebration after Italy won the 2020 UEFA European Football Championship July 11.

In Woodbridge, where many of Vaughan's citizens of Italian heritage are located, Market Lane, was the epicentre of the joyous celebration.

Lucas Giovannetti, a Vaughan resident who is fully vaccinated, came fully prepared to celebrate Italy’s win when he donned his ancient Roman attire.

Adriano Volpentesta, another Vaughan resident, shared a photo that showed the magnitude of how many people attended on Instagram.

Even the City of Vaughan illuminated its City Hall with red, white and green to congratulate Italy on winning the tournament in a penalty shootout over England after the game finished 1-1 through extra time.

Italy won the shootout 3-2 for its second European Championship.

The celebration in Vaughan comes as Ontario pushes to vaccinate more people amid the COVID-19 Delta variant scare.  More than 1.4-million vaccines have been administered in York Region, home to more than 1 million people. As of July 8, more than 800,000 York Region residents had received at least one dose and close to 600,000 had received two doses.

Some people criticized the celebrations, while others rejected this, saying it’s time to embrace life in light of the high vaccination rates.