WILLIAMSBURG KEEPS THE GIGLIO TRADITION ALIVE

JULY 10, 2016

Neapolitan immigrants from Italy settled in Williamsburg long ago and brought a meaningful tradition to the streets of Brooklyn with the first Giglio Festival in 1903. This year, this massive feast brought 100,000 people to Brooklyn and fused crowds from all ages, nationalities and backgrounds in the evolving and gentrified Williamsburg.  The feast is a celebration of the dramatic story of St. Paulinus/San Paolino.

The Lily, or "Giglio" as it is called in Italian, has been transformed into a giant tower colorfully adorned with flowers and angels and topped with a statue of San Paolino. Both structures are staffed with full orchestra and singers providing entertainment, while three hundred and fifty Italian-American men lift these structures through the streets under the direction of a single man called in Italian "Capo Paranza" or Capo.