Officials from the City of Derby on Nov. 18 bid a warm welcome to a visiting delegation from Derby’s sister city of Puglianello, Campania, Italy. About 50 residents gathered at J.R. Payden Field House on Chatfield Street for a welcoming ceremony that kicked off with the singing of both the national anthem and the Italian national anthem by Alderwoman Sarah Widomski.

The sister city relationship began some 20 years ago when current Derby Town/City Clerk Marc Garofalo was mayor. Garofalo, in the early 2000s, struck up a friendship with the mayor of Puglianello, the late Tonino Bartone. The two forged a sister city relationship, where students, city leaders, residents and others from both Derby and Puglianello visited each other’s communities several times over the years.