Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Grace

A patronal feast in the heart of the Teramo hinterland

The Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Grace is the most anticipated event of the year for Villa Bozza, a small hamlet in the municipality of Montefino, in the province of Teramo, in the heart of Abruzzo. Every year, in early September, the village gathers around its church to pay homage to the Madonna delle Grazie with a festival that weaves together religious devotion, popular tradition, and live entertainment.

The Church of the Madonna delle Grazie

The spiritual heart of the festival is the Church of the Madonna delle Grazie, a building documented since the 17th century and constructed over the remains of an older religious structure. Its facade, marked by pilasters and crowned by a broken pediment, houses a single-nave interior with four side chapels and a fine 18th-century wooden coffered ceiling decorated with floral motifs. An imposing three-arched bell tower preserves historic bells dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries. Restored between 1993 and 1999, the church remains the identity landmark for a community deeply rooted in its traditions.

Four days of faith and entertainment

The festival program spans an entire weekend, alternating moments of religious reflection with evenings of great entertainment. The solemn procession through the village streets, with the statue of the Virgin carried on the shoulders of the faithful, is the most heartfelt and well-attended moment, followed by the traditional final concert that attracts a prominent guest from the Italian music scene every year.

• Abruzzese dialect theater, with vernacular performances recounting local life and customs
• Live music and bands providing the soundtrack for evenings in the square
• Cabaret and comedy, featuring well-known faces from the Abruzzo scene
• Major concerts, true crowd-pullers for the entire valley

In the most recent edition, the village hosted the dialect play Lu matrimonie cumbinite, the Tequila & Montepulciano Band, a cabaret night with the Abruzzese comedian 'Nduccio, and, as a grand finale, a concert by Fausto Leali, an icon of Italian music, preceded by the religious procession through the streets of Villa Bozza.

A community coming together

Organized by the Associazione Oltre Noi - Al di là dei Confini APS with the patronage of the Municipality of Montefino and the collaboration of the Pastoral Unit of Castiglione Messer Raimondo and Montefino, the festival is much more than a simple patronal anniversary: it is an occasion for the small community of Villa Bozza to reunite, welcome those who have emigrated, and open its doors to visitors and curious onlookers. Immersed in the rolling hills of the Fino and Piomba valleys, the event offers an authentic glimpse of Abruzzese festive tradition, where popular faith and conviviality remain at the center of it all.