Festa di Santa Rosalia 2018

Everything You Need to Know About Festa di Santa Rosalia 2026.

Festa di Santa Rosalia (Feast of Saint Rosalia) is one of the most important religious celebrations in Sicily, taking place every year in the month of July, in Palermo.

Saint Rosalia, who lived between 1130 and 1166, called also La Santuzza (Little Saint), is the patron saint of Palermo.

SHORT HISTORY

In the year 1624, the Viceroy of Sicily, Emanuel Filibert of Savoy, brought to the port of Palermo a ship from Tunis, containing many gifts and riches. The plague, carried on board of the ship, spread very rapidly all over the city.

Girolama La Gattuta, a 47-year-old woman suffering of strong fever at the Hospital of Palermo, saw an angel, who told her to go to Monte Pellegrino and pray. Girolama miraculously recovered after three days, without going to Mount Pellegrino, but she fell ill again on May 7, 1624, when the pestilence flooded the city.

On May 26, 1624, Girolama, sick again, climbed the Mount Pellegrino. The woman drank some clear water that dripped from the rocky walls of a cave, and miraculously healed. Girolama saw Santa Rosalia, who told her to dig in the cave for a treasure.

On July 15, 1624, in the place indicated by Girolama, the bones of a woman were found. The bones were cleaned and brought to Palermo.

On February 13, 1625, on the same Mount Pellegrino, Santa Rosalia appeard to a hunter named Vincenzo Bonello, who wanted to commit suicide after he lost his wife to the plague, and told him that only if her remains will be carried through the streets of Palermo in a procession, the city will get rid of the plague.

The Archbishop of Palermo, Giannettino Doria, followed by the clergy, by the Senate and by some eminent citizens, made a procession through the streets of the city with the relics of the saint. In a few days, the city was freed from the plague.

FESTA DI SANTA ROSALIA 2018, the 394 edition, will be held in the weekend of July 14-15. The procession will start on the night of July 14th, from the Cathedral of Palermo, reaching Foro Italico, culminating with a big show of fireworks. The Archbishop and the Mayor of Palermo will lead the procession.

The center of the procession is a vessel-shaped chariot, built different every year, carrying the Statue of Saint Rosalia. The chariot is ten meters high and almost as long, decorated with roses and angels, and pulled by oxen.