Saint Bartholomew Festival

The patronal feast of Rodì

In the heart of the Peloritani mountains, the small town of Rodì Milici (province of Messina, Sicily) preserves one of its most cherished traditions: the Saint Bartholomew Festival, patron saint of the village of Rodì. Every year, around August 24th — the date the Church celebrates the apostle Bartholomew — the village transforms into a grand space of devotion, reflection, and popular celebration that unites the entire community.

The solemn procession

The highlight of the festivities is the solemn procession of the saint's statue through the village streets. The statue is carried on shoulders through crowds, accompanied by a brass band, faithful in prayer, and balconies decorated with drapes and floral arrangements. Upon returning to the church, a solemn Holy Mass is celebrated, while the day concludes with a fireworks display that illuminates the village sky.

The Calamech statue and the church

The heart of the devotion is the white marble statue of Saint Bartholomew, sculpted in 1579 by the famous Messinese sculptor Andrea Calamech, commissioned by Minico Policza of Castroreale. The work is housed in the Church of Saint Bartholomew, a late-Renaissance style building whose construction dates back to approximately 1616.

The legend of the oxen and the invocation "San Bbattulumèu di Rrudì"

Popular tradition inseparably links the Saint to the territory through a legend passed down from generation to generation. It is said that when the marble statue needed to be transported, the oxen remained motionless despite all efforts; only at the cry of "San Bbattulumèu di Rrudì!" did the animals move, bringing the sculpture to the current site of Rodì. Since then, that invocation in the local Sicilian-Rodì dialect has become a call to identity, roots, and the "religion of the fathers," extending far beyond a simple folkloric dimension.

A community in celebration

Devotion to Saint Bartholomew is still expressed today through processions, rosaries, decorated balconies, and floral arrangements in honor of the Saint. The summer calendar of Rodì Milici is rich in religious and popular events: in the village of Milici, Saint Roch is celebrated with a procession and fireworks, while the first Sunday of August is dedicated to the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. All these are testaments to a deep bond between the Peloritani village, its history, and its traditions.