DETROIT (WXYZ) — You can always find a lot of red, white and blue inside of Little Caesars Arena. On Friday, you can also find a lot of green for the flag of Italy.
The International Day of Sport is continuing to be celebrated by countries around the world.
"It's a United Nations-sanctioned holiday and it's just about celebrating sports as a way to be inclusive, be together," said Allegra Baistrocchi, the consul of Italy in Detroit.
In her role as consul, Baistrocchi represents the Italian government in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee.
On Friday, she was one of dozens at Little Caesars arena as groups of Italians came together in honor of International Day of Sport. It was also an opportunity to showcase their heritage.
"We've been prevalent here for a very long time," Baistrocchi said. "Even to this day, economic immigrants are part of the big companies that are present here in Detroit. We do a lot with them. We have in my jurisdiction about 22,000 Italians and we have 2.5 million Americans of Italian descent."
The Italian community said they have a lot to be excited about. That includes the recent launch of Il Detroiter, a magazine for Italian-speaking people.
The first edition features Piston Simone Fontecchio, the only active Italian in the NBA.
"We decided to found a lot of magazines for the whole United States to celebrate people every day with their business, with their passion and their contributions to create a great America," said Davide Ippolito, who lives in New York.
While games of basketball took place at LCA, they also had a special guest in the crowd. Italian actress Cristiana Dell'Anna stopped by, who starred in the movie "Cabrini."
"It was a wonderful time I spent in Buffalo, New York, playing a character that has meant a lot historically both for American history and Italian history because Cabrini was an Italian nun who became the first American saint," Dell'Anna said.
She says it makes her proud to be in Detroit, seeing people gather as one.
"It's inspiring and it gives me hope for the future because that's what we need to see," Dell'Anna said.
"We're represented every time the Pistons play because of Simone, but just to have a little bit more of Italy is incredible," Baistrocchi said.
The group at Little Caesars Arena are also getting the chance to meet Fontecchio.
To learn more about events involving the Italian community, people are encouraged to visit their Italy in Detroit's social media.
