From today, Sept. 4, until Sunday, Sept. 7, the Sinatra Drive waterfront will be transformed into a corner of Italy for the 99th Hoboken Italian Festival – The Feast of Madonna dei Martiri. An event that, year after year, renews the religious devotion and identity pride of the community of Apulian origin, particularly from Molfetta, and will draw more than 100,000 visitors from across the tri-state and beyond.
The heart of the festival is the veneration of Our Lady of Martyrs, a tradition rooted in the 12th century, when a holy icon was brought to Molfetta by Crusaders. From there, the devotion was passed down from generation to generation, all the way to the American coast. In 1927, a group of Molfetta immigrants founded the Society of Our Lady of the Martyrs in Hoboken with the goal of recreating the celebration in their hometown.
“Our task has always been to keep this connection alive,” explains Albert Della Fave, current president of the Society. “The most exciting moment is when Our Lady is carried in procession through the streets of Hoboken. That’s when you feel the strength of this tradition and its ability to bring people together.”
Between faith and spectacle
Over time, the festival has become one of the most iconic events of Italian culture in the United States. In the 1990s, the festival experienced a breakthrough with the move to the Sinatra Drive waterfront and the introduction of a boat procession, inspired by the one held every September in Molfetta. From a simple religious celebration, the festival has evolved into an event that combines spirituality, gastronomy, music and entertainment.
A distinctive feature are the artistic Apulian illuminations, which arrived in America in 2015 thanks to the Oll Muvi association and Roberto Pansini’s “I Love Molfetta” project. The carved wooden structures, illuminated by thousands of colored lights, recreate the atmosphere of Italian patronal festivals. “For those who have emigrated or for the descendants of emigrants, illuminations are not just decorations,” Pansini says. “They are an emotional bridge between past and present, between the land of origin and the land of adoption.” Their value was also recounted in the documentary Illuminiamo la tradizione (We Light the Tradition), which won awards at several international festivals.
The vision for the future
Today the celebration is led by Antonio Albanese, president of the Hoboken Italian Festival, who stresses the importance of looking forward without forgetting our roots. “This is not just a celebration, it is an act of love toward our community and our history,” he explains. “In 2027 we will celebrate the centennial, but already this year our goal remains the same: to honor tradition and continue to engage new generations.”
Among the most popular initiatives is the pavilion dedicated to roots tourism, where visitors can discover their origins through maps, photos and information about the places in Italy where their families came from. “Many approach in curiosity and end up planning their first trip to Italy,” Albanese says. “It’s one of the most beautiful things we can accomplish as a community.”
An event that combines
During the four-day celebration, the city of Hoboken will come alive with concerts, fireworks displays, traditional food and moments of prayer. In addition to the procession by land, the impressive boat procession on the Hudson River will provide unique images, with the statue of Our Lady parading among Manhattan skyscrapers and the Statue of Liberty in the background.
Albanese is keen to thank everyone who makes the event possible: “This festival is the fruit of the work of an entire community: members, volunteers, local authorities and everyone who participates, even if they are not of Italian descent. The title of president is only formal, the strength comes from the group.”
As the centennial approaches, the challenge is to keep alive a tradition that has spanned the ocean and nearly a century of history. Starting today, for four days, Hoboken will be the beating heart of a great little Italy of America, and a special print edition of theNewyorker dedicated to the event will be distributed for the occasion.
The article The 99th Hoboken Italian Festival kicks off today comes from TheNewyorker.
