This upcoming weekend of September 19 and 20 will be the final days of the 2009 San Gennaro Festival, an annual festival marking the patron of the saint of Naples.

San Gennaro is the patron saint of Naples and the festival marks the anniversary of the date in 305 A.D. when Saint Gennaro was martyred.

San Gennaro Festival is the 82nd and is New York City's longest-running, biggest and most revered religious outdoor festival in the United States. The festival began on September 10 and will finish on Sunday.

The festival takes place on the streets of Little Italy which served as the first home in America for hundreds of thousands of Italian immigrants who came here seeking to improve their lives beginning in the early part of the 20th century.

NYC Religion