Feast of the Immaculate Conception

A patronal feast that closes the Gulf's summer season

The Feast of the Immaculate Conception is the patronal festival of Scauri, a populous seaside district of the Municipality of Minturno, in the Province of Latina, at the southern tip of Lazio. Every year, during the first ten days of September, the community gathers around its patron saint, the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Immaculate Conception, celebrated on the day of the Nativity of Mary, September 8th. This is no ordinary event in the local calendar: it is the celebration that traditionally marks the end of the long summer season on the Pontine coast, as beach umbrellas begin to disappear and the town reclaims its squares.

19th-century roots and Marian devotion

According to the records of the Archdiocese of Gaeta, Marian devotion in Scauri dates back to the mid-19th century and is linked to the presence of Blessed Pius IX in Gaeta during 1848-49 and his passage along the Appian Way in April 1850. The cult developed within the ducal chapel of the Caracciolo-Carafa family, originally dedicated to the Most Holy Savior and already mentioned in the pastoral visits of 1754; the community became a parish in 1931, under the guidance of Father Antonio Pecorini, to whom the parish field that hosts most of the festival's events is dedicated today.

The heart of the devotion is the statue of the Madonna, sculpted by the artist Giuseppe Obletter of Bolzano, blessed by Pius XII in the Vatican in 1954, and crowned by Archbishop Pier Luigi Mazzoni in 2003. It is this image that, on the evening of September 8th, travels through the streets of Scauri in a solemn procession, accompanied by the town band and a large turnout of residents, emigrants who have returned for the occasion, and vacationers.

The program: sacred and secular side by side

The program, curated by the Immaculate Conception Parish Committee together with the parish, alternates between liturgical moments and civil events spread over five to seven days. Recurring highlights include:

• Dance evenings and orchestras at the "Don Antonio Pecorini" parish field;
• Theater for children and families, with local companies;
• Pilgrimages, including the historic departure of the Vespa Club from Piazza dell'Immacolata and the arrival of the faithful from Cellole;
• Band concerts and the band's parade through the town streets at dawn on September 8th;
• Solemn Mass and procession with the statue of the Madonna;
• Comedy and musical shows on the seafront;
• Fireworks at midnight, launched over the sea, the grand finale of the festival.

The atmosphere

Visitors arriving in Scauri during these days will find a town where festive lights decorate the streets and the scents of the stalls—nougat, hazelnuts, traditional sweets—accompany the evening stroll along the seafront. The formula is the ever-effective one of the patronal feasts of the southern Pontine area: free admission to almost all events, a strong popular character, and that pyrotechnic finale over the water which is a draw in itself for the entire Gulf of Gaeta.

Around the festival: Minturno and its territory

The festival is an excellent opportunity to discover the territory of Minturno, which combines sea and archaeology: the Minturnae archaeological area with its Roman theater, the medieval village of Minturno Alto with its castle, the Riviera di Ulisse Regional Park in the Gianola area, and the mouth of the Garigliano river. The same municipal summer calendar includes other historic events such as the Sagra delle Regne and the "Goodbye to Scauri" Sea Festival, confirming a deeply rooted vocation for popular traditions.