Feast of the Apparition of the Most Holy Trinity

The sanctuary's only winter opening

The Feast of the Apparition of the Most Holy Trinity is the most defining religious event for Vallepietra, a small mountain town in the Metropolitan City of Rome, located in the heart of the Simbruini Mountains Regional Nature Park. Every year on February 16th, the Sanctuary of the Most Holy Trinity—closed to the faithful from early November to late April—reopens its doors for a few hours. It is the only day in winter when it is possible to visit the grotto with the Trinity fresco and offer prayers at the site of the apparition.

The legend of the apparition

Popular tradition tells of a farmer who, while plowing the land atop the Colle della Tagliata, saw his oxen and plow plunge into the ravine below. Upon descending to the base of the great rock face, he was astonished to find the oxen unharmed and kneeling before a mysterious painting of the Trinity that had appeared inside a small cave. This miraculous event gave rise to one of the most deeply rooted popular cults in Central Italy. The sanctuary, built at an altitude of 1,337 meters in a natural rock amphitheater, is considered the only one in the Catholic world dedicated to the Most Holy Trinity, welcoming hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from Lazio, Abruzzo, and the Ciociaria region every year.

The February 16th pilgrimage

The festival begins at dawn: at 7:00 AM, the pilgrimage receives a blessing at the parish church of Vallepietra and sets off on foot toward the sanctuary, reciting the rosary along the mountain path. By mid-morning, a solemn mass is celebrated in the sanctuary complex's church, presided over by the Bishop of the Diocese of Anagni-Alatri in the presence of the sanctuary rector. In the 2026 edition, about a thousand pilgrims took part in the ascent, welcomed at the end by refreshments in the sanctuary square.

The village festivities: procession and fireworks

The celebrations conclude a few days later in the historic center of Vallepietra with a day of great intensity: a solemn Eucharistic celebration followed by a procession through the village streets with the image of the Trinity carried on shoulders. It is accompanied by confraternities—twenty-five were counted in 2026, arriving with their banners from the Aniene Valley and Ciociaria—and the Trevi nel Lazio marching band. A solemn blessing and a fireworks display bring the festival to a close.

A centuries-old devotion in the Simbruini Mountains

The groups of pilgrims who have walked to the Trinity for centuries, often singing traditional litanies, represent one of the most precious intangible heritages of Lazio. The February festival, less famous than the great spring pilgrimage, has seen growing participation in recent years. For the community of Vallepietra and the Lazio Region, it is a moment where faith, rural memory, and mountain identity intertwine in a rite that has remained almost unchanged over time.