Feast of Saint Roch (Co-Patron)

The feast of the co-patron of Pietraperzia

In the heart of central Sicily, the town of Pietraperzia (Enna province) dedicates August 16th each year to the Feast of Saint Roch, celebrated with great solemnity as the town's co-patron alongside Maria SS. della Cava. The event takes place in the middle of the Ferragosto celebrations, immediately following the feast of the co-patroness on August 14th and 15th, offering the local community some of the most heartfelt days of the summer.

A devotion dating back to the 17th century

The cult of Saint Roch in Pietraperzia dates back to the early 17th century. According to local historical sources, the ancient church consecrated to the Immaculate Conception and Saint Sebastian, in Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, was dedicated to Saint Roch in 1635, thanks to the Branciforti princes who brought some of the Saint's relics to the town. Saint Roch, a pilgrim and protector invoked against the plague, thus became a reference point for local popular religiosity, joining the other town devotions.

The statue and the float

The protagonist of the feast is the statue of the Saint. The ancient 18th-century papier-mâché statue with gold leaf, which is very fragile, is kept in a niche of the main altar of the church dedicated to him; for the procession, however, the statue created in 2009 by the Mussner workshop in Ortisei (in the province of Bolzano) is used. The iconography is the traditional one: Saint Roch with his cloak, pilgrim's staff, the wound on his thigh, and the dog with a loaf of bread in its mouth, symbols of his journey and his legend.

The August 16th procession

Liturgies take place throughout the day. At nightfall, after mass, the festivities reach their most intense moment with the procession: the statue, placed on the float, leaves the church, crosses Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, and winds through the streets of the historic center, accompanied by the brass band, before returning to its starting point. The evening concludes with performances in the square and traditional fireworks.

Experiencing the feast

• Authentic atmosphere of a patronal feast in the Sicilian hinterland
• Evening procession with the float of Saint Roch through the streets of the historic center
• Accompaniment by a brass band and illuminations
• Performance in the square and fireworks at the end

The Feast of Saint Roch represents an uninterrupted appointment in the Pietraperzia calendar and a way to discover the religious and popular traditions of the province of Enna, in the heart of Sicily.