Maggio Nettunese – Feast of Our Lady of Graces

Nettuno's most heartfelt celebration

In the town of Nettuno, a coastal city in the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, in the Lazio region, the month of May is like no other. For nine days, city life revolves around Our Lady of Graces, the patron saint of Nettuno, and her sacred image kept in the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Graces. The Maggio Nettunese is simultaneously a popular pilgrimage, a fair, and a grand civic festival: visitors arriving during these days will find the Medieval Village illuminated, the streets decorated, and thousands of people waiting for the statue to be carried out on the shoulders of the 'incollatori'.

A devotion born from the sea

Tradition traces everything back to 1550, when, following a shipwreck, the Sacred Image of Our Lady of Graces washed up on the shores of Nettuno. Since then, the city has adopted her as its protector, culminating in her official proclamation as patron saint in 1854. It is a quintessentially maritime devotion, grown in a fishing village overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea, and which still concludes today with fireworks lit on the beach: the sea that brought the Madonna remains the natural backdrop of the festival.

The two processions

The ritual heart of the Maggio Nettunese consists of the two processions that open and close the festival period:

• Outward Procession, the first Saturday: early in the morning, a short parade leaves the Collegiate Church of San Giovanni towards the Sanctuary for the traditional vesting ceremony; in the evening, the statue emerges accompanied by confraternities, parishes, civil and military authorities, and the town band.
• Return Procession, the following Sunday: the parade leaves the Collegiate Church of San Giovanni again, within the setting of the Medieval Village, to escort the Madonna back to her Sanctuary.

Two figures make the parade unique: the incollatori, who take turns carrying the heavy processional structure on their shoulders, and the thirteen prioresses, young women who parade in traditional dress. Between the two Sundays, the evenings are filled with candlelight vigils and moments of prayer in the Village.

The May Fair and secular festivities

Alongside the religious dimension, the Maggio Nettunese is also one of the most popular fairs on the coast south of Rome. On the main days, starting in the morning, Piazzale Enrico Berlinguer hosts the historic Fair with commercial stalls, food stands dedicated to local and national products, street performances, and entertainment for children. In the evening, Piazza Mazzini becomes a stage for free concerts, featuring popular music and revival acts.

Twinning and community

The festival is also the occasion when Nettuno welcomes delegations from its twin cities — including Ardee, Traunreut, Corinaldo, Wehr, and Bandol — as a testament to an event that, while deeply local, has a vocation for gathering. For Nettuno natives living abroad, returning in May is almost an emotional obligation: the procession is the moment when the city recognizes itself.

Why visit

The Maggio Nettunese offers visitors an authentic portrait of popular religious life in Lazio, without any tourist filters. In just a few hours, you move from the intimacy of the vesting ceremony to the bustle of the Fair, from the band accompanying the parade to the fireworks reflecting on the water. All this less than an hour from Rome, in a city that combines beaches, one of the best-preserved 16th-century villages in Lazio, and a history also linked to the Allied landing of Anzio-Nettuno.