Twenty-five years ago, Little Italy was preparing for the 75th Feast of San Gennaro. The Feast was scheduled to begin on September 13, 2001. Restaurants had stocked their kitchens for eleven days of crowds, vendors had prepared their stands, and Julius LaRosa was among the performers expected to take the stage. Then the attacks on September 11 happened, and the Feast was canceled before it began.
In the days that followed, the restaurants of Little Italy turned from preparing for celebration to feeding the recovery. Kitchens stocked for Feast crowds began sending meals to firefighters, police officers, recovery workers and others working around the clock nearby. The neighborhood had spent generations welcoming people through food. In September 2001, that hospitality took on a different purpose.
For Italian-American families, feeding someone has never been limited to hunger. Food is how people welcome you, celebrate you, and take care of you when something is wrong. Meals arrive after births and deaths. Someone comes to the house and something is put in front of them whether they asked for it or not. “Did you eat?” is often another way of asking whether you are okay.
After September 11, that language of care extended beyond family. Recovery workers needed food, and the restaurants knew how to feed people. They had kitchens, ingredients, and generations of experience putting a meal in front of whoever walked through the door. A hot meal could not change what had happened, but it could give someone enough strength to continue working, a chair for a few minutes, and the knowledge that somebody nearby was looking after them.
That history is the subject of The Forgotten Feast, a short documentary directed by Rosemarie Sparacio and produced by Pitta & Baione LLP with Keep Good Company for the 25th anniversary of September 11 and the 100th Feast of San Gennaro.
Featuring a score by Sal Valentinetti and Ginger Winn, the film brings together people who carry the neighborhood’s history firsthand, including John DeLutro of Caffè Palermo, Nick Criscitelli of Da Nico, Vivian Catenaccio of La Mela and Figli di San Gennaro, Adele Gallo of Casa Bella, Anthony Romano of Benito One, Robert Ianniello of Umberto’s Clam House, Vincent “Buddy” Zeccardi of Caffè Roma, Jennifer Prezioso of Albanese Meats & Poultry, Dr. Joseph Scelsa of the Italian American Museum and others whose families and businesses have been part of these streets for generations.
This September, the Feast reaches its 100th anniversary exactly twenty-five years later. On September 12, The Forgotten Feast will screen at the Italian American Museum in Little Italy. Days later, the centennial Feast will begin on those same streets. On September 25, Sal Valentinetti will perform with the NYPD Jazz Band and pay tribute to Julius LaRosa, connecting the performer who was supposed to appear at the canceled 75th Feast with a stage filled again a quarter-century later.
The Forgotten Feast preserves what happened when Little Italy could no longer welcome people to a celebration and its restaurants turned that same instinct for hospitality toward people who needed it most. For generations, Italian families have said a great deal through food without saying it aloud. Welcome. Stay. Take this home. Sit down. Eat.
After September 11, Little Italy said all of it to New York.
Author's Note: I am a partner at Pitta & Baione. Our managing partner, Vincent F. Pitta, was born on Mulberry Street, and our firm represents many people from Little Italy, Chinatown, and the surrounding neighborhoods whose lives were affected by September 11. My wife Tina and I also founded Keep Good Company, and we made The Forgotten Feast to preserve the memories of the restaurant owners, workers, and Feast organizers who were there. The photo below is of me (second from the left) and Vincent (far right) with some 9/11 first responders.
