Richard Joseph Spinelli plans the leasing year around two days in Belmont when the streets close and the neighborhood turns out, and a visitor or a new resident should know both before either arrives.
Ferragosto
Ferragosto is the Italian holiday that marks the end of the harvest and the enjoyment of what it produced, and the merchants of Bronx Little Italy have kept it for more than twenty five years as a one day street festival at the end of summer. Arthur Avenue and the side streets off East 187th close to cars. Restaurants and markets move their kitchens onto the sidewalk, there is music and there are demonstrations, and the crowd is large enough that the Belmont Business Improvement District, which organizes the day, publishes the date and the program each year.
Planning around it
- Come by train. The getting there page explains why driving is the wrong choice on an ordinary weekend, and a festival day is worse.
- Arrive early or late. The middle of the afternoon is the crush.
- For residents on the side streets, the day is loud and long, and the block is closed to deliveries. Groups moving in near the date should plan the truck around it.
The Giglio di Belmont
The Giglio is a towering decorated structure, carried on the shoulders of a team of lifters and danced to a band as it moves, a tradition Italian immigrants brought from Nola and kept in several New York neighborhoods. Belmont’s version belongs to the parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on East 187th Street, founded in 1906, and it takes place in summer as part of the parish feast. The lifting is the spectacle; the feast around it is the reason.
Planning around it
- The dates come from the parish, and they move.
- The lift happens on the street, so the best view is from the sidewalk, early.
- It is a religious feast before it is a festival, and the neighborhood treats it that way.
The rest of the year
| Season | What happens on the avenue |
|---|---|
| Summer | The Giglio and the feast at Our Lady of Mount Carmel |
| End of summer | Ferragosto, the merchants’ street festival |
| Fall | The leasing season begins on the blocks near Fordham |
| December | The bakeries and pork stores run at full pace for the holidays |
| August | Move in week for the student groups, the same week for everyone |
The two festival days and the August turn are the three dates that matter most to anyone who lives here, and only one of the three is on a poster.