Little Italy

The Feast of San Gennaro is an annual celebration of Italian-American culture and cuisine centered along Mulberry Street in Little Italy. The festival’s origins date back to September 1926, when a group of immigrants from Naples, Italy erected a small chapel on Mulberry Street to house an image in honor of Januarius, the patron saint of their hometown. Januarius is the name Gennaro in Neapolitan Italian. Individuals who came to pray to the saint were asked to pin an offering to the ribbon streamers hanging from the statue’s apron. The money gathered from the festivity was then distributed to the poor living in the neighborhood.