Every year, from July 10th to July 15th, the people of Palermo celebrate their patron saint, St. Rosalia, to thank her for the grace received in 1624, when her bones were brought around the city and saved Palermo from a plague. Throughout the so-called Festino (“little party”), the city dresses in colorful clothes and fills with street food stands. On July 14th the triumphal chariot on which the Santuzza (a friendly word to say “saint”) sits enthroned descends from Palazzo Reale to the seaside, accompanied by the cheer “Viva Palermo e Santa Rosalia!” (“Go Palermo, go St. Rosalia!”). And it is on the beach that a great firework show takes life, surprising the eyes of all spectators. On the following day, it is the Saint’s relics that are carried in a religious procession. Don’t miss out on a visit to the Santuario di Santa Rosalia (shrine of St. Rosalia), built inside a cave in the Monte Pellegrino mountain, where you may also admire the altar and gold-plated marble simulacrum of the Saint.
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