San Gennaro Festival 2018 {in Seattle}

I love a good festival and have for as long as I can remember. From Greek to Italian, from pierogies to patron saints, I’ll visit any festival with as many friends as I can gather (more people means more dishes to share).

Visiting the photo booth at the San Gennaro Festival in Seattle

We visited the San Gennaro Festival, in Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood, in mid-September. The festival celebrates Saint Gennaro, the patron saint of Naples, Italy, and is celebrated around his birthday of September 19. There’s also a San Gennaro festival in New York City’s Little Italy neighborhood.

Saint Gennaro, in statue form, at Seattle's 2018 San Gennaro Festival

We enjoyed a leisurely visit to the festival on Saturday afternoon. My husband, Bryce, and our friend, Craig, accompanied me on the adventure. They have recent knee and ankle injuries, respectively, and hobbled around the crowded streets like troopers. This is the perfect time to mention that parking in the residential neighborhood is atrocious and festival goers should expect to park, and walk for several blocks, at least.

​The festival is small but packed full of food stalls, vendors selling various Italian goodies, giveaway opportunities, and a photo booth complete with very Venetian props.

A seemingly new addition to the festival is a mini bocce court sized just right for young beginners.

Bocce for bambinos at the San Gennaro Festival in Seattle

And now for the food, mangia!

Bryce and Craig, the carnivores, started with the porchetta (pork) sandwich with hatch chiles that had just been roasted onsite. I began with fried polenta and veggies: zucchini and green beans. The green beans had especially crispy and slightly spicy breading, they were amazing!

Fried polenta and veggies + a porchetta sandwich with freshly roasted hatch chiles at the San Gennaro Festival in Seattle

Our second round of food was a meatball sub on the fluffiest hoagie roll and an overflowing bowl of pasta with peas, cream sauce, and giant shavings of pecorino cheese. We sat in the beer garden to eat while also sharing a bottle of wine and listening to the live music. Che buono! (It’s good!)

Delicious pasta with cream sauce, pea, and pecorino cheese + a meatball sub at the San Gennaro Festival in Seattle

Despite being perfectly full, we topped off the day with two scoops of gelato, both salted caramel and stracciatella.

One last thing - gelato! - at the San Gennaro Festival in Seattle

You can see that we had an overcast day this year, while the Italian food still shined as bright as the sun! I enjoy this festival every year and look forward to going again next year. Who's coming, and sharing, with me in 2019?

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