Loudly banging their pots and pans for Italian food, a collection of Sydney's best Italian chefs join forces with some of Australia’s leading producers and provedores of Italian goods to present the sixth annual GUSTO festival on Sunday 21 August 2011. Held at Sydney Seafood School, Sydney Fish Market, Gusto, an all-day festival dedicated to Italian food and wine in all its regional variety, is the flagship event for CIRA (the Council of Italian Restaurants in Australia).

There’ll be plenty of flames to fuel the fire with new debating forums added to the all-day program. Will knives come out when the chefs disagree? Can notable foodies such as Simon Marnie and David Dale keep the peace? Or will civilisation turn to Barbary! To find out, reserve a seat in Gusto’s first ever culinary colosseums ($10).

CIRA President Lucio Galletto, says he’s nervously excited about the new debates. “Taking on heavily contested topics such as whether traditions are worth preserving, if Italian food has wandered too far from the source in this country, and whether we as Australia’s Italian chefs are trying too hard to hold on to traditions long dead in Italy, are certainly going to stir the pot.”

“I suspect there may be some generational attitudes and differences emerging, and who knows what else!” he says.

Tossing the pasta with Sydneysiders are the dons of Italian food Armando Percuoco, Alessandro Pavoni, Danny Russo, Eugenio Maiale, Gabriele Taddeucci, Giovanni Pilu, Logan Campbell, Mario Percuoco, Nino Zoccali, Richard Ptacnik and Roberto Taffuri.

Join a chef’s tour through the south, north-west, and mountains of Italy to find exotic Spanish, Arabic and Ancient Greek influences. Gusto has five enlightening master classes ($60 or $250 for five) that delve deep into regional specialties and uncover all the secrets of Italy from ancient to modern times.

Indulge the palate and discover a huge variety of wines from Sicily, Tuscany and Puglia in three dedicated wine workshops ($40 or $100 for three) with recognized wine presenter Max Allen and Italian wine specialists Michael Trembath, Sabino Matera, Giorgio De Maria and Joel Pizzini.

Tutta la famiglia (the whole family) can take a trip through La Sala degli Assaggi - the tasting room (11am-3pm) tucking into an incredible array of dishes from Australia’s best Italian restaurants and provedores, picking up tasting tickets on the day.

Or pre-book your bambini into Bambini in Cucina - kids in the kitchen, to have fun learning pizza and pasta making ($25 or $80 for 4 tickets) from the best - Roberto Taffuri from Ventuno & Cavallino and Logan Campbell from Lucio’s Italian Restaurant.

Check out the website for all the latest information and bookings.