Feast of San Gennaro

[a][3][4] In the United States, the "Festa of San Gennaro" is also a highlight of the year for New York's Little Italy, with the saint's polychrome statue carried through the middle of a street fair stretching for blocks.

[6]San Gennaro was named patron and protector of the city, and is invoked by the people of Naples on several occasions, e.g. to ask for help, healing and special favors; memorably, he was called on to stop the 1631 eruption of Mount Vesuvius, and the lava – that was about to destroy the towns around it – slowed down.

[6] Meanwhile, with very few exceptions,[d] the blood miracle happens again and again, three times a year: In Naples and neighboring areas, an annual celebration and feast of faith is held over the course of three days, commemorating Saint Gennaro.

This is a Roman Catholic candlelit procession in which the statue of San Gennaro is carried from its permanent home in the Most Precious Blood Church through the streets of Little Italy.

The event was hosted and entertained by Tony Sacca from 1986 to 2016, along with celebrities from the strip such as Pat Cooper, Ernest Borgnine, Jerry Vale, Liberace, Frankie Avalon.

In 2002, Jimmy Kimmel, Adam Carolla, and Doug DeLuca founded the Feast of San Gennaro Los Angeles, which is now a major annual event held every September in Hollywood.

The Hampton Bays Feast of San Gennaro draws a huge crowd, with live bands, raffles and prizes, and vendors selling food and drink.

Saint Gennaro , bishop and martyr, by Caravaggio
Drawing of the reliquary containing the two ampoules said to hold Januarius' blood, c. 1860
San Gennaro's procession in Naples, during the 1631 eruption of Mount Vesuvius
Looking north at Mulberry Street during the 2014 festival. To the right the Little Italy Bakery can be seen constructing what became the world's largest cannolo .