[soundslides width=”620″ height =”533″ id=”4795″]

Mulberry Street welcomed thousands of visitors to celebrate Italian culture during the 87^th annual feast of St. Gennaro last month. In honor of the patron saint of Naples, Italian-Americans and Italian aficionados participated in New York City’s longest running spiritual festival by savoring what almost everyone associates with Italy – the food.

In the late 1920s, when Italian immigrants began calling Mulberry Street their home, a group of café owners built a small chapel to house a sculpture of Saint Gennaro on Mulberry. On the statue, people began pinning offerings to an apron that was wrapped around the sculpture. In the spirit of stewardship, the money was donated to the most deserving families of the blossoming Little Italy.

Eighty-seven years later, the urban landscape has changed drastically, but the generosity of St. Gennaro’s inaugural festival is still honored. During the festival’s Grand Procession on September 19, St. Gennaro’s grandiose statue symbolizes the parade’s finale, and many in the audience extended their hands with fistfuls of cash for donations. Congressional members of the Roman Catholic Church collected the donations from the audience, which will be distributed to the not-for-profit charitable organization Figli di San Gennaro, Inc. More than 1.8 million dollars has been donated for educational and child services in all five boroughs throughout the feast’s history, according to the official website.

The feast attracted almost 200 vendors offering attendees all quintessential Italian cuisine, like savory sausages and pepper heroes, macaroni and penne, brick oven pizzas, colorful cannolis, zeppoles, and life-altering gelati. There are also not-so-typical Italian dishes like featherweight falafels with cheddar cheese, Philly cheese steaks, and even Tex-Mex. Neighboring the food, Italian-themed apparel with some thought-provoking embroidered maxims, such as “Leave The Gun And Take The Cannoli,” was also up for grabs.

The streets were filled with families laughing hysterically over huge plates of pasta, couples kissing, friends lost deep in conversation, steam rising from meatballs on the grill, powdered sugar from zeppoles flying in the air, and many bombastic “I love you!” The entire festival was reminiscent of Grandma’s kitchen on a Sunday afternoon just before the serving bowl filled with farfalle is about to adorn the dining room table. Though the feast of Saint Gennaro is verifiably overcrowded, it is a staple of New York City that’s gloriously chaotic and must be experienced. You’ll never look at pizza the same way again.