The grand marshall for this year's Festa Italia is a lifelong fisherman who began working on his father's boat in Sicily and continued in America to fish off Monterey Bay, San Pedro and Alaska.
Joseph Aliotti, 75, a native of Trapani, Sicily, began putting to sea with his father, Domenico, at the age of 8 from Marettimo.
The Aliottis came to San Francisco in 1955 to fish for salmon with Joe Aliotti's uncle, Filippo Aliotti.
Domenico and Joe Aliotti moved to Monterey in 1957 and Joe Aliotti returned to Italy to marry his fiancée, Enza Bonanno, in 1962. The two celebrated their 50th anniversary this year.
Over the years he fished off Alaska and Monterey. In 1973, he lost his fishing vessel Sea Maid, but continued fishing in San Pedro and in Monterey, where he acquired the vessel St. Joseph.
That boat, too, was lost at sea, but Aliotti, undaunted, began construction of another boat, Aliotti Bros., a boat that was sunk, raised and rebuilt.
He retired from fishing, but his sons continue in the business.
Festa Italia coincides with the religious festival honoring Santa Rosalia, patroness of Palermo, Sicily, and its fishermen.
The saint will be honored Saturday with a Mass at San Carlos Cathedral at 10:30a.m., and the carrying of her likeness in a procession starting at noon through town from the cathedral to Fisherman's Wharf, where Monterey's fishing fleet will be blessed.
The religious observance harkens back to 1624, when the hermit saint's bones were paraded through Palermo to save the city from an outbreak of bubonic plague, brought to Palermo by a ship from North Africa.
The ensuing epidemic killed a third of Palermo's residents. According to the legend, a young man, Matteo Bonello, had a vision in which Rosalia appeared and directed him to the cave she lived in.
She instructed him to retrieve her bones and to carry them to the four corners of the city. Bonello found the cave, Rosalia's bones and a rock with Rosalia's name on it. He carried the bones to the city and the plague ended.
Every July 15-17, Palermo holds a festival to commemorate the end of the plague and to honor its patron saint.
Monterey's Italian fishing community has deep Sicilian roots, and the custom was brought to Monterey during the boom times of its fishing industry. This year marks the 76th year of the festival.
A bronze statue of Santa Rosalia holding a skull in her hands overlooks Monterey's waterfront as though keeping an eye on the crews who continue to wrest their livelihoods from the sea.
The annual Festa Italia will follow the Santa Rosalia Festival in Custom House Plaza at 11:30a.m. Saturday and 11a.m. Sunday. This year's Festa Italia queen is Monterey High School junior Angela Bomarito.
The festival, which was first held in Monterey in 1933, will include music, dancing, traditional foods of Sicily and Italy, a bocce tournament and activities for the family.
Admission both days is free.
Kevin Howe can be reached at 646-4416 or khowe@montereyherald.com
Entertainment schedule
·Friday:
6-9:30p.m., The Joe Sharino Band
·Saturday:
11:30-12:15, Dennis Murphy School of Music Youth Program All-Stars
1-1:45, Anthony Lane Band
2-3, Ree Ree Brunell, Mike Marotta Sr., Erasimo Aiello, Dennis Murphy, and tarantella dancers
3:15-4, Pasquale Esposito
4:15-5, Anthony Lane Band
5:15-6, Pasquale Esposito
·Sunday:
11-noon, Anthony Lane Band
12:15-1:15, Pasquale Esposito
1:30-2:15, Ree Ree Brunell, Mike Morotta Sr., Dennis Murphy, and tarantella dancers
2:30-3:15, Erasimo Aiello (with the Monterey String Quartet)
3:30-4:15, Anthony Lane Band
4:30-5:30, Pasquale Esposito
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