Our Lady of the Rosary Feast / Rosary Fair / Maccu Festival

A celebration of faith, land, and tradition

In the heart of the Agrigento province, the town of Raffadali celebrates the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary every year on the first weekend of October. It is one of the community's most beloved traditions, where religious devotion merges with rural and folk culture, creating an event that the locals affectionately call the Rosary Fair.

The Rosary Fair

The popular name of the festival stems from the large market that has always accompanied it. Originally an agricultural and livestock fair, the Rosary Fair attracts hundreds of traders and exhibitors from all over Sicily. Monday is traditionally dedicated to agricultural trade, featuring the spectacular movement of livestock groups—horses, pigs, sheep, and goats—through the town, alongside stalls offering all kinds of goods. It is an event that marks the changing of the seasons and preserves Raffadali's deep-rooted connection to its rural heritage.

The Maccu Festival

In recent years, the event has been enriched by the Maccu Festival, dedicated to the ancient dried fava bean dish that serves as the town's gastronomic symbol. Maccu is a thick cream made from the long, slow cooking of dried fava beans, seasoned with vegetables and olive oil—a humble dish of the Sicilian peasant tradition that has become a true identity marker for Raffadali, earning the town the nickname 'u paisi du maccu'. During the festival, food stands offer maccu alongside other local specialties.

Devotion and the Procession

The religious heart of the event remains the veneration of Our Lady of the Rosary. The days are divided between religious services at the Church of the Rosary and moments of entertainment, including folk group performances and tastings of local products. The highlight is the solemn procession on Sunday afternoon: after Holy Mass, the statue of the Madonna is carried out of the church and accompanied through the streets of the historic center by confraternities, a brass band, hymns, and prayers. The festival concludes with firecrackers and fireworks that light up the town's sky.

An identity-defining event

Deeply rooted in the community, the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary is much more than a patronal feast: it is the moment when Raffadali tells its own story, sharing its faith, its land, and its cuisine. For visitors, it is the ideal opportunity to discover an authentic village in the Agrigento hinterland and a tradition that unites the sacred and the profane in the best Sicilian spirit.