Festival ends with a traditional procession and an Italian-language mass

In a tradition that stretches back to the old country and in particular to a town near Naples, nearly 100 people gathered Sunday to walk in a procession with a statue of St. Roch through the streets of Chickahominy.

It reminded Filomena DiBiasi, 55, of her hometown of Morra DeSanctis, Italy.

"We had that every year, we always had a big festival," said the West Harrison, N.Y., resident who immigrated to the United States 37 years ago.

Sunday marked the final day of the St. Roch Festival, or "La Festa di San Rocco," in Italian, an annual event, that skipped a year in 2009.

She makes a point to come to the festival held at St. Roch Church in Chickahominy every year where she and other family members gather.

"We come here from all over," she said while walking in the procession. At one point, she stopped and warmly greeted her uncle, Salvatore Caputo, from Port Chester, N.Y.

"He's the cook," she said with a laugh. "He's cooking the meal at the church."

It's those types of family connections that Frank Olivetti, 51, and Christa Rivo, 45, are familiar with.

Olivetti, a Stamford resident, who briefly lived in Chickahominy after moving east from Ohio, said he grew up in a family that maintained ties with family members still living in Italy. His mother Elaine immigrated to the United States from a town in the region of Calabria. His father Peter had been born in the United States.

"It's the culture, it's family, and it's of course about food," he said with a laugh. "We would gather on all the holidays, the whole family would be together."

Although Rivo's ties with Italy were further back -- it was her great-grandparents' generation that left Italy to come to America -- Rivo said there was that similar attachment to close ties.'

"I grew up in a home with three generations and there was that tradition of a close family," she said.

Rivo, who lives in Buffalo and was visiting Olivetti, was impressed that community members and St. Roch Church keeps the tradition alive.

"We don't have anything like this in Buffalo," Rivo said about the religious nature of the procession. "We do have festivals but it's more community, more cultural."

The two joined the procession, which was led by the Dixie Dandies band, the Rev. Matthew Mauriello, the pastor of St. Roch Church, and Salvatore DiPietro, president of the Societa San Rocco Di Morra De Sanctis, a group composed of descendants of immigrants to America in the New York metropolitan area and Greenwich who came from that town.

DiPietro was happy with this year's festival after no festival last year.

"The people really enjoyed it," he said as he walked in the procession wearing a sash in the green, white and red colors of Italy. "I think next year it will be even better."

The procession started at the church and wound its way through the streets of Chickahominy before returning to the church where a Mass in Italian was celebrated at noon.

The feast kicked off Wednesday with a Mass celebrated by Mauriello.

Saturday, a tribute was held for Thomas Reale, a 90-year-old parishioner, known to many as the "mayor" of Chickahominy, who organized the event for decades before passing the reins to David D'Andrea this year.

Proceeds from the event will go toward supporting repairs, renovations and other work at the 101-year-old church.

Staff Writer Frank MacEachern can be reached at frank.maceachern@scni.com or 203-625-4434