Street food at Festino in Palermo, Italy. Viva Palermo and Santa Rosalia!

Some customs and traditions transcend time. Traditions that can captivate you and transport you to another universe, filled with charm and magic, somewhere between devotion and theatre. Perhaps the most famous example in Sicily is the Feast of Santa Rosalia ('u fistinu for the Palermo people), which takes place in mid-July in the majestic and beautiful places of Palermo. It is no coincidence that this event also inspired the most famous travelers who visited the city during the Grand Tour in the 18th and 19th centuries. Santa Rosalia, especially dear to the people of Palermo for her role in eradicating the plague epidemic of 1624, is the absolute protagonist of this great event. An unforgettable spectacle is to watch the popular procession that on the night of July 14th sets off from the Cathedral to the Foro Italico, passes through the Cassaro and follows a route full of memories of hardships and adversity, ending with a joyful celebration of life with fireworks. At the head of the procession, the Archbishop of Palermo and the Mayor of Palermo lead all the inhabitants of the city, who come alive to honor the memory of the saint, joining in an increasingly impressive procession. The central element of the procession is a sumptuous float in the shape of a ship with a statue of the saint, which is built year after year. It is a real mobile stage, ten meters high and almost as long, which is carried by oxen (in the 17th century, it seems, even elephants!). It is richly decorated with roses, angels, cherubs (putti) and tritons, made in a combination of precious gold and baroque shades. The city itself puts on a show: dances, ballets, daring choreographies, lighting effects and, from time to time, cries of “Viva Palermo e Santa Rosalia!” On July 15, the relics of the saint are carried in a silver urn and honored until their return to the cathedral with the blessing of the Archbishop of Palermo. Rosalia Sinibaldi, who lived in the 12th century, spent her short life in a permanent hermitage (Itinerarium Rosaliae in Santo Stefano di Quisquina in Monte Pellegrino) to avoid the fictitious marriage her noble family wanted. According to legend, four centuries after her disappearance, she appeared to a hunter during the great plague in Palermo to honor her remains, which had been left in a cave. Miraculously, walking through the streets of the infected city of Palermo with these newly found relics instantly cured the disease, and the people followed them in procession.