Feast of San Gennaro Grand Procession in Little Italy

The annual Feast of San Gennaro, New York City's oldest religious street festival held its grand procession yesterday. The 11-day festival kicked off in Little Italy on Thursday, offering entertainment, music and a wide variety of food. The grand procession took place yesterday and featured former New York Governor Mario Cuomo and his wife Matilda as grand marshals. The festival, a celebration of the Patron Saint of Naples, runs along Mulberry Street between Canal and Houston Streets. The statue of San Gennaro was carried from its permanent home in the Most Precious Blood Church through Mulberry Street. The festival will run until September 22.

Street Art

These are two of the art installations at Mulberry Street in SoHo as part of the IDEAS CITY festival. IDEAS CITY explores the future of cities with the belief that arts and culture are essential to the vitality of urban centers. One installation is a video projection on a wall, and the other is a light installation built with materials normally used for traffic control and construction safety. The exhibition was held on May 4th.

Little Italy

This is Little Italy, a neighborhood in lower Manhattan once known for its large population of Italians. The neighborhood has become more of a tourist destination than a residential neighborhood. Previously, Little Italy spread from Canal Street north to Houston Street. Today, the section of Mulberry Street between Broome and Canal Streets, lined with Italian restaurants popular with tourists, remains distinctly recognizable as Little Italy. Last Saturday night, we visited Little Italy and had dinner at a fine restaurant called Il Cortile, located at 125 Mulberry Street. Little Italy is worth visiting for delicious imported Italian groceries and to see the Old St. Patrick's Cathedral, as well as a chance to glimpse some of the restaurants and bars made famous by gangsters and members of the Rat Pack.