Saint Matthew Festival

Saint Matthew 2025: eight days of celebration in the Jubilee Year

The 2025 festivities opened on Sunday, September 14th with the enthronement of Saint Matthew's silver statue and the rowing palio, which also featured the bearers of the Saints. In the following days, the photographic exhibition I Sentieri del Sacro, the Mattean Days in the Cathedral atrium, an organ concert, and the three-day preparation period from September 18th to 20th took place.

The climax arrived on Sunday, September 21st: at 11 AM, Cardinal Angelo De Donatis presided over the solemn pontifical mass in the Primatial Cathedral; at 6 PM, the procession began with the statues of Saint Matthew, Saint Joseph, Saint Gregory VII, and the Holy Martyrs Gaius, Ante, and Fortunatus, following a route that touched Via Duomo, Via Mercanti, Corso Vittorio Emanuele, Via Velia, Corso Garibaldi, Via Roma, the Teatro Verdi, and Largo Campo, with the blessing at sea in Piazza Dante. At 10 PM, the final holy mass was held in the crypt of Saint Matthew.

At midnight, as tradition dictates, the fireworks were launched from the Masuccio Salernitano pier facing the seafront. In the city, a mini luna park was active in the Via Carella parking lot, and a carousel ride was set up on the Trieste seafront, while the stalls in the center offered the essential stuffed spleen sandwich.