San Gennaro Feast Turns 100 on Mulberry Street

Little Italy's Feast of San Gennaro kicked off its centennial run Sept. 17, a century after Neapolitan immigrants started it as a one-day block party.

The Feast of San Gennaro kicked off Thursday in Manhattan's Little Italy, marking the festival's 100th year, as ABC7 New York reports. Thousands of people are expected to crowd 11 blocks along Mulberry Street to sample Italian-American favorites — pizza, pasta, cannoli and gelato — from more than 300 vendors, with music, games and rides filling the program. According to amNewYork, the celebration runs Sept. 17 through 27, from 11:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., staying open until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. The milestone is striking given the humble scale of the origins: amNewYork recounts that in 1926 the feast began as a one-day block party on Mulberry Street, where Neapolitan immigrants among the Italian communities of the Lower East Side had settled, and has since grown into an 11-day, world-renowned New York tradition.

Per amNewYork's preview, San Gennaro was a Bishop of Benevento who died a martyr in 305 AD during the persecution of Christians — arrested for visiting fellow Christians in prison, said to have survived being thrown into a furnace, and ultimately beheaded for refusing to renounce his faith. The outlet notes his body is preserved in Naples, where he is honored as the city's patron, and that his blood, normally solidified, is said to liquefy twice a year: on the first Sunday of May and on Sept. 19, the anniversary of his martyrdom. That date falls squarely inside this year's feast, and amNewYork reports a Mass celebrating the patron saint of Naples will take place on Sept. 19 from 2 to 4 p.m., giving the centennial weekend an explicitly devotional anchor alongside the cannoli stands.

The 100th-anniversary program leans into the festival's Neapolitan roots. According to amNewYork, Napoli Expo has sponsored two artists from Naples for the centennial, with Furious Jane, Livio Cori and Walter Ricci performing live on Sept. 26 — the same day as the Grand Procession from 2 to 4 p.m., featuring floats, live bands, a tribute to the armed forces and the statue of San Gennaro. Other highlights the outlet lists: Johnny Mandolin hosting his 15th year opening the festival on Sept. 17 with guest Marie Anello, Opera Night with MORE Opera on Sept. 21, and Jenna Esposito, 'The voice of Little Italy,' closing the feast on Sept. 27 from 6 to 9 p.m. Classic street food — riceballs, fried calamari, sausage and peppers — and carnival games remain staples of the run.

Beyond food and entertainment, the feast carries a philanthropic record that amNewYork says has grown quietly over three decades: since 1996, Figli di San Gennaro has donated over $2 million to charities and organizations supporting education, children, seniors, communities, health care, schools and programs. That giving, organizers told the outlet, makes the feast more than a street party, and they feel it is important that attendees understand the origins and traditions the community has kept alive since 1926. For readers who have never attended, amNewYork frames this centennial as an unusually good entry point — a tradition now part of New York City for a full century. More information is available at sangennaronyc.org, and the ABC7 New York report points visitors to the same Sept. 27 closing date.