Forza Italia!
The 89th annual Feast of San Gennaro took place from September 10th to September 20th downtown in the historic neighborhood of Little Italy. It is New York City’s oldest and largest religious street festival, attracting over one million visitors each year!
The festival first started in 1926 when Italian immigrants from Naples moved to New York and resided on Mulberry Street. The festival features processions carrying the statue of San Gennaro and mass at Most Precious Blood Church on Mulberry Street. When Italians came to America, they continued the tradition of celebrating Saint Januarius the Patron Saint of Naples, on his feast day of September 19th. This is in the liturgical calendar of the Roman Catholic Church.
The festival has all of the pizza, cannoli, meatballs, pasta, sfogliatella, clams and pignoli cookies that one could ever dream of! There are multiple street vendors throughout the festival streets and all of the ristorantes put out seating outside and feature specials during this time. This year the Grand Marshal was actor and singer Tony Danza! Visitors are encouraged to stop by the Italian American Museum as well to check out Italian’s history and accomplishments here in America. The famous festival involves a great variety of parades, performances, mass, shopping and most importantly food! Mangia, mangia!
In the words of Dean Martin, “That’s Amore!”