In Naples, the 19th of September is the Feast of San Gennaro. This very special day for Neapolitans is an explosion of popular devotion to the city’s patron saint and a fascinating synthesis of tradition and spirituality. 

Today everyone are waiting for so-called “the blood miracle of St. Gennaro”! After the procession of holy bust and ampoule with blood take places in the streets of historic centre, people return in church. Around the Cathedral there are a lot of devotees, believers, curious onlookers, and tourists. Inside, we find traditional prayers of the “parenti of St. Gennaro”, a group of faithful women who incite the dissolution of blood with growing complaints.  

The dissolution of blood of St. Gennaro is certainly the most ancient Neapolitan mistery. The blood from solid condition becomes liquid for three times in a year: on 16th December, on the first weekend of May and on 19th September (patron saint’s festival). Believers consider this phenomenon a miracle but if liquefaction doesn’t happen, this event is considered “baleful”. Indeed, people remember when in 1980 the blood of St. Gennaro hasn’t dissolved; this was the year of a terrible earthquake…