Little Italy: San Gennaro Festival in NYC

On Tuesday, I stumbled upon the San Gennaro Festival in Little Italy. This is the 80th year of its existence! The celebration usually takes place during the last two weeks of September and honors the patron saint of Naples.

This is the second year I’ve gone to the festival. There’s over a million visitors in a two-week span, so the streets are pretty packed. Booths line the streets full of Italian confections, Italian-themed t-shirts, carnival-style games, and beer. All the Little Italy restaurants are open and most have menus available as you walk by. There’s fancy sit-down restaurants next to pizza places, so there’s really something for everyone.

I briefly stopped at the statues near a church to look at religious items like saint charms and holy cards, then kept walking to Chinatown, which has sadly gobbled up most of Little Italy at this point…