Santa Lucia Hall

Today's Santa Lucia Hall was constructed to hold a fire station in the early 20th century. The building was sold by the city in the 1920s to a group of Italian-American organizations who turned it into a community venue and headquarters for the Santa Lucia festival in Omaha. The building is located in a neighborhood known as Omaha's Little Italy which hosts an annual festival at 10th and William Street in front of St. Francis Cabrini, a local cathedral and cornerstone of Little Italy. The festival celebrates Saint Lucy Day, a religious observance and holy day in Sicily and other parts of the world.

When this building was constructed in 1890, the neighborhood saw increased immigration and soon became an enclave for Italians in Omaha, mostly of Sicilian origin. Many of the Sicilian Americans of Omaha had roots in Carlentini, an area in Siracusa, Sicily, which is the place Saint Lucy, or Santa Lucia, was born. In Siracusa, the festival is a more widely celebrated event, and the Sicilian diaspora in Omaha wanted to bring that piece of their culture with them. The first festival occurred in 1925 is under the leadership of Grazia Bonafede Caniglia. On December 13th that year, as reported in the Omaha World-Herald, a few local Italian ethnic organizations held a ball to raise money for the festival. Over 2,000 Italian-Americans in the Omaha area attended the ball and partook in traditional Sicilian customs of celebration for the festival. Omaha's mayor of the time, Mayor Dahlman, for whom the neighborhood in question is now named, was in attendance and delivered an address.

In the 1920s, the City of Omaha sold the building for $1,235. It was repurposed into a community venue and headquarters for the Santa Lucia festival. The building was restored in 2015, with new doors, windows, and roof. In addition, some of the building's woodwork was restored after work by preservationists. The building houses cultural artifacts relevant to the community and historical photos, banners, and other artifacts. The building also hosts years of current and past festival banners. The building is also available as a rental venue with proceeds supporting the Santa Lucia Festival Committee.

1. "Omaha Italians Hold Annual Ball To Raise Santa Lucia Day Funds." Omaha World Herald (Omaha) December 14th, 1925. .2.
2. Gonzalez, Cindy. "Project is restoring more than building - Santa Lucia Hall’s rescue coincides with boom in Italian cultural organization’s membership - Busiest area housing subdivisions." Omaha World Herald (Omaha) March 20th, 2015. , Money sec.01D.
3. Santa Lucia Festival. Accessed November 12th, 2022. https://www.santaluciafestival.com/.