PBSCA is an active organization that hosts and co-hosts many events throughout the year. In recent years, we have hosted our youth exchange to and from Bologna, Italian cyclists, our Amici dinner, our annual Sagra fundraiser, wine tastings and more. As an official Sister City, we also are part of the Portland Rose Festival activities including the Grand Floral Parade which happens 2nd weekend of June every year.

SAGRA 2025 IS HERE!

Join us for our beloved celebration of Italian culture and a key fundraising event for the Portland Bologna Sister City Association’s Youth Exchange Program and BIPOC Youth Scholarship. Help us reach our $6,000 goal needed to assist students in need to be able to participant in this unique cultural exchange experience!

Tickets, auction registration & bidding, can be found through the buttons below:

Sagra Auction

Sagra tickets

PBSCA @ FESTA 2025

Festa 2025 was one for the books! PBSCA was glad to support and have a presence at this year’s Festa. Especially as this event has made its way back to the historic St. Phillip Neri’s Catholic Church, a church that has long-standing ties to the Italian Community. Overall, enjoyed connecting with potential Youth Exchange applicants and engaging with the local community! If you missed this year’s Festa, stay tuned on their webpage for next year’s Festa happening in September 2026. Hope to see you there!

Memeber of the PBSCA Board at Festa 2025. (from Left to right: PBSCA President, Phil Potestio, Secretary, Lawson D’Ambrosio, Executive Director, Gabriella TOmei, and fellow Board members, Mark Holman and Anthony Sargenti)

2024 YEAR END LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

We have successfully wrapped up our 20th year celebration! We invite you to pause and reflect on the moments that have defined us. Our President, Phil Potestio, has penned a heartfelt End-of-Year Letter, encapsulating the achievements, and the lessons learned throughout this transformative year.

Read here

2025 Sister City Reception

The Portland Bologna Sister City Association enjoyed connecting with Mayor Keith Wilson, the City Council, and fellow Sister Cities at this year's Sister Reception held at the City of Portland's City Hall. The signatory this year was Executive Director Gabriella Tomei, with Vice President Mark Brubaker, Secretary Lawson D'Ambrosio, and Youth Exchange Coordinator Ruth Costantini representing. As always, thank you Cullis "James" Autry and Chido Dhilwayo for organizing.

(Pictured below L-R: Secretary Lawson D’Ambrosio, Youth Exchange Coordinator, Ruth Costantini, Executive Director Gabriella Tomei, and Vice-President Mark Brubaker, Taken at the Sister City Reception at Portland City Hall, June 5, 2025)

ANNOUNCING OUR NEW “CIBO E AMICI” FUND, IN HONOR OF MARIA ROSA MARTELLI BREKKE

Portland’s thriving Italian-American community - and our own PBSCA - owes a debt of gratitude to this inimitable woman, who was born in Bologna and made Portland her home. Affectionately known as la donna di Bologna, her warm smile and talent as a home chef helped so many of us to feel connected to each other and to the world around us through her food and her love of Italian culture.

In her honor and thanks to a generous seed gift, the Maria Rosa Martelli Brekke Cibo e Amici Fund was launched earlier this year. With this fund, PBSCA is creating a series of educational events to help us better understand and celebrate the power of Italy’s food culture, specifically that of the Emilia Romagna region, to bring us closer together. We kicked off in April with our first Virtual Taste of Bologna event featuring Chef Giorgia Lambertini, and we hope you can join us on June 8 for our Amici dinner. Ideas welcome!

We invite you to read our 2006 interview with Maria Rosa and to make a contribution to help this grow faster. (If you are giving online, please also send us an email to let us know that we should direct this!)

OUR YOUTH EXCHANGE, SINCE 2008

The Portland-Bologna Youth Exchange Program is a two-year cycle. We are resuming the program in Summer 2026—first sending Portland students to Italy then hosting students from Bologna in 2027. Applications for 2026-27 are open and we invite you to visit our Youth Exchange page!