Festival of Maria SS. Addolorata

Comiso's most heartfelt celebration

The Festival of Maria SS. Addolorata is one of the most significant religious and folk events in Comiso, a Baroque city in the province of Ragusa, in the heart of south-eastern Sicily. Celebrated every year on the third Sunday of May, it is the moment when the entire community gathers around the 18th-century statue of the Virgin of Sorrows, housed in the Mother Church dedicated to Maria SS. delle Stelle. The devotion dates back to the early 20th century: the Hymn to the Madonna Addolorata, still the emotional core of the festival today, was written by Monsignor Francesco Rimmaudo and set to music by Maestro Alfio Pulvirenti in 1910.

The rites of the week

The festivities open with the Solemn Settenario, seven days of preparation in front of the Church of San Biagio, featuring the Holy Rosary, the May Chaplet, and evening Eucharistic celebrations. Among the most evocative moments is the Via Matris on Friday evening, accompanied by the "Sittina," an ancient seven-stanza chant in dialect composed in 1846, and the marches of the "Kasmeneo" brass band.

On the Saturday vigil, two highly anticipated rites take place: the "Pigghiata ro mantu" at the Church of San Biagio—the retrieval of the precious blue velvet mantle, rays, stars, and the Marian relic—and the "Svelata" (unveiling) at the Mother Church, when the statue is revealed to the faithful beneath a cascade of rose petals.

The Sunday of the outdoor festival

On Sunday, from the early morning, the sound of bells and cannon salvos announce the solemn day, while the "Kasmeneo" band accompanies the city with its symphonic marches. In the late afternoon, the solemn mass presided over by the Bishop of Ragusa marks the climax: the exit of the venerated statue and the long procession that traverses the most iconic spots of the historic center—Piazza Fonte Diana, San Biagio, Corso Vittorio Emanuele, the Church of San Giuseppe, the Maria SS. Annunziata parish, the Church of the Grazie, and the Sanctuary of the Immacolata—until its return late at night, greeted by a fireworks display.

Between faith and Iblean folklore

Alongside the religious dimension, the festival retains a strong popular foundation: the parade of characteristic Sicilian carts, the collection of gifts for the traditional gastronomic dinner, the children's choir singing the Hymn in Piazza Fonte Diana, and the artistic lights illuminating the historic center. A blend of devotion and folklore that makes the Addolorata Festival one of the defining events for Comiso and the entire Iblean area.