Festa Patronale di San Defendente

San Defendente, Patron Saint of Romano

Romano di Lombardia, in the Province of Bergamo (Lombardy), has San Defendente as its patron saint, celebrated every year on September 14th. Devotion to the saint is rooted in the town's history and is expressed in a week of celebrations involving the entire community, from religious to civil authorities, the latter present with the traditional banner of San Defendente.

A Week of Celebrations

For a week, masses are held in the church of San Defendente with prayers to the city's patron saint. The most evocative moment is the evening procession, which carries the statue of the Saint to Piazza Papa Giovanni XXIII, accompanied by the Corpo Civico Musicale, the town band. It is the apex of the festival's spiritual dimension, where the community gathers around its patron.

The Popular Festival in the Square

Alongside faith, the festival becomes popular. In Piazza Papa Giovanni XXIII, neighbourhood dinners, games, tombola, stalls with bread and salamis, and music are held, in a convivial atmosphere that enlivens the town centre. Closing the festivities, inevitably, are the fireworks, offered every year according to a tradition dating back to 1925.

A Century of Tradition

With almost a century of uninterrupted history, the Festa di San Defendente is one of the most identity-defining events in Romano di Lombardia. It combines the sacred and the profane in a calendar that, year after year, reaffirms the bond between the community, its patron saint, and its territory, in the heart of the Bergamasca plain.