The San Gennaro Festival 2018

Every September the Georgetown neighborhood in Seattle hosts the San Gennaro Festival. This Italian festival takes over several blocks and there is live music, lots of authentic Italian eats, and a beer and wine garden.

This was my third year checking out this event and this year I did some research to find out what San Gennaro is. It was originally a one day religious commemoration that took place in 1926. Immigrants of Naples gathered in New York City in Little Italy to continue the tradition they had followed in Italy to celebrate Saint Januarius, the Patron Saint of Naples. The Roman Catholic Church celebrates his feast day on September 19th. In NYC, the San Gennaro festival is in its 92nd year. Over one million people visit Little Italy for this event.

When I think of the San Gennaro festival, I think of Italian food. So I took a stroll down the street to Georgetown for a little "me time" to take some photos and discover some new desserts. The Saint George church had a booth selling Cannoli and Sfogliatelle. I bought two of each pastry. Cannoli are pastries that originated on the island of Sicily. They're a fried pastry dough filled with a ricotta filling. I've had them before and never been blown away, as the flavor is slight and the ricotta makes them calorie bombs.

But Sfogliatelle, I'd never tried and I was curious to see what they tasted like. They are referred to as Lobster Tails here in the States and the word sfogliatella means a small, thin leaf like layer. I took a bite of the flaky croissant type pastry and was pleasantly surprised. The pastry was beautifully made and filling was really rich and dense, almost like a cheesecake filling. I ate one Cannoli and one Sfogilatella at one of the tables they had set up. I watched everyone trying the Italian delicacies and taking in the late summer festival.

Then I walked back to my house, taking photos along the way of the Georgetown neighborhood, which like most Seattle neighborhoods, is changing all the time.