San Gennaro Festival in Little Italy

September 18, 2019 / Things To Do Manhattan / Manhattan Neighborhoods NYC / Manhattan Buzz NYC.

The San Gennaro Festival began last Thursday along Mulberry Street in the Little Italy neighborhood of Manhattan. The festivities run for eleven days and included a parade which was held last Saturday, a number of eating contests - one of which is this afternoon - as well as live entertainment, food galore and shopping.

The San Gennaro Festival began 93 years ago, in 1926, when the community was comprised primarily of Italians from the Naples area. San Gennaro is the anglicized name of the patron saint of Naples, St. Januarius.

The locus of the San Gennaro Festival is along Mulberry Street between Canal and Houston, with the main stage at Grand and Mott Streets. The Roman Catholic parish church of Our Most Precious Blood Church represents the 'soul' of the festival, as it was completed in 1904 and still stands today. There was a lot behind the church, the Rectory at 109 Mulberry Street, where they had hosted parts of the San Gennaro Festival in prior years, but it was put on the market in 2018 for $14 million. The photo below right shows the Most Precious Blood Rectory on Mulberry Street in 2014.

• CLICK here to read the rest of our report on the Feast of San Gennaro & the Italian Museum in Little Italy.

Feast of San Gennaro in Little Italy NYC

Every year the Feast of San Gennaro begins with the blessing of the stands on the first day of the festival. The event includes some live entertainment. On the first Friday of the event there is a cannoli eating contest. On Saturday there's a parade beginning at 2 pm that marches north on Mulberry Street from just north of Canal Street. Sunday there's more live entertainment in the evening. All of this took place last weekend.

This Monday there was an Enrico Caruso Opera night, which is followed on Wednesday afternoon [today beginning at 1 pm] of a Zeppole eating contest. On Thursday there's a church service at the shrine of the patron saint of Napoli at 113 Baxter Street beginning at 6 pm. On Saturday there's a meatball eating contest beginning at 1 pm. And on Sunday the festival winds down with live entertainment at 2 pm and again beginning at 6 pm. This represents a few of the highlights, and you can find a full schedule of events at the Feast of San Gennaro website at www.sangennaronyc.org.

Italian Neighborhoods & Feasts in the Outer Boroughs

During the Feast of San Gennaro, Italians from around the city and in the tri-state area, return to the neighborhood from which their families came. Most of the Italians have left the neighborhood for greener pastures in the outer boroughs of Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx.

The Bronx has its own Little Italy, which some believe is more authentic than the one in Manhattan, as over a hundred Italians still attend the church in the Bronx neighborhood, where some of the services are still given in Italian. There's an upcoming Pizza Festival to be held there on October 5th & 6th near Arthur Avenue and Crescent Street in the Belmont neighborhood of the Bronx - see the Bronx Buzz.

Staten Island has also become the home of many New York Italians, where they organize and host a number of Italian cultural events there including the Italian Festival of the Mount which is held at Mount Lorenzo at 6451 Hylan Blvd from Friday through Sunday, October 11th to 13th - see the Staten Buzz.

Return of the Italian American Museum Expected Spring 2021

I visited the Italian American Museum at 155 Mulberry Street in Little Italy in 2014. The Italian American Museum was first opened at the site on Columbus Day 1999. The Italian American Museum was founded by a history professor from Queens College, Dr. Joseph V. Scelsa. Dr. Scelsa is shown in the old Italian American Museum in the photo at right.

The Italian American Museum broke ground in November 2018 for a new building, where a new building will be erected on the site of the 1800 square foot museum. The expected completion date is Spring 2021, which will provide additional space for the museum, which will be rent free, as the land upon which the new building is being erected, was owned by the museum. Previously the Italian American Museum had used the rent revenue from the other space in the building, to fund the museum operations.

We'll have more on the museum and the history of Little Italy in Manhattan at a later date.