Feste di Luglio – Madonna di Montallegro

The patronal festival of Rapallo

In Rapallo, in the Gulf of Tigullio in the province of Genoa, the Feste di Luglio (July Festivals) celebrate the Madonna di Montallegro, the city's patron saint. Devotion dates back to 1557, the year of the Marian apparition on the hill above Rapallo, where the renowned Sanctuary of Montallegro stands. Religious celebrations have been intertwined for centuries with a popular festival of extraordinary intensity.

The challenge of the six sestieri

The secular heart of the festival is the fireworks competition between the six sestieri — San Michele, Seglio, Borzoli, Cerisola, Cappelletta, and Costaguta — who take turns organizing and compete for the fireworks supremacy. Unique traditions of the festival include the lumetti (little lights), floating lights on the water, and the mortaletti, characteristic iron cylinders that mark the key moments with their bangs.

The procession and the burning of the castle

On July 2nd, at the stroke of noon, the panegirico (a type of celebratory bonfire) is lit; on the evening of July 3rd, the procession with the Ark of the Madonna di Montallegro winds through the city and culminates in the evocative burning of the castle on the sea, accompanied by a fireworks display. The preparatory novena begins on June 23rd. An identity event that draws thousands of visitors to the city.