What could be closer to paradise than five hours straight of tasting all the Italian food you ever dreamed of? And sipping a little (or a lot of) Italian wine?

This isn't a dream. It's the program for A Taste of Italy October 16th at the historic Italian Hall in downtown Los Angeles. Founded in 1908, the hall was a social and cultural center for L.A.'s Italian community for half a century, so there couldn't be a better setting for the tasting.

Restaurants taking part include Pane e Vino, Ca'Del Sole, Nonna of Italy, Il Fornaio, Frankie's on Melrose, San Antonio Winery's Maddalena restaurant and many more.

Credit: Taste of Italy

Credit: Taste of Italy

Desserts will be supplied by such places as Palermo Ristorante Italiano, Eagle Rock Italian Bakery, Federico's Italian Bakery, South Bay Italian Ice and Gale Silverton's Gelato Bar.

The tasting, which will include music and dancing, is a benefit for The Italian American Museum of Los Angeles. Helping to defray the costs is the San Antonio Winery, which is Italian to the core, as it's owned by the Riboli family.

General admission is $35 and includes eight tastes of food and eight beverage tastes. For $75, you can have all the food, wine and other beverages that you want.

Taste of Italy: 4 to 9 p.m. October 16th at the Italian Hall, 424 N. Main Street, Los Angeles. Tickets are available online through the Italian American Museum of Los Angeles. Or call (213) 485-8432.

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.