77th Monterey Festa Italia

Come to Monterey, California, and enjoy the Blessing of the Fleet, the parade downtown (12:00 noon Saturday), the food booths and the music of Pasquale Esposito, Ree Brunell, Anthony Lane and Joe Sharino Bands, Ray Massa and singers Orazio Aiello and Rachel Marotta, all at the Custom House Plaza, Monterey State Historic Park. Festa Italia Santa Rosalia attempts to replicate the original feast celebrated in Palermo, Sicily every September.

The Monterey fishermen have celebrated this festival since 1923. As the story goes, in 1905 a fisherman, Pietro Ferrante, arri- ved in Monterey that year, saw the bounty of sardines in the bay and invited other fishermen who had established themselves in Pittsburg, CA, to come and fish the waters of Monterey Bay. That same year they started to deliver their fish to Frank E.

Booth, who had established an experimental cannery at the left of the entry of the present day “Old Fishermen’s Wharf.” Other Sicilian families followed and imitated the ones that had come before. Before long a fleet of more than 100 boats was built and other canneries were built, where now is “Cannery Row”, to handle the capacity that the boats were delivering. Every year the Festival is celebrated to honor their patron saint “Santa Rosalia.” This is the 77th year of continuous celebration.