Sante Rufina e Seconda Festival

A patronal feast in the heart of Casalotti

The Sante Rufina e Seconda Festival is celebrated every year on July 10th, the liturgical memorial of the two young martyr sisters, at the parish named after them in the Casalotti district, on the northwestern outskirts of Rome (Rome Municipality, Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, Lazio Region). This is not a food festival or a tourist event: it is a religious and community celebration, simple and inclusive, bringing together local residents and the faithful from across the entire diocese.

Who were Rufina and Seconda?

According to tradition, Rufina and Seconda were two Roman sisters who were martyred for their faith in the 3rd century in a wooded area along what is now the eighth mile of Via Boccea, the ancient Via Cornelia. The site was known as Sylva Nigra, or the "Black Forest": legend has it that after the burial of the two martyrs, the forest was renamed Silva Candida, the "White Forest," from which the current place name of Selva Candida is derived.

A church and later an episcopal seat were built on the site of their burial. The Diocese of Porto-Santa Rufina was established in 1120 through the union of the ancient dioceses of Silva Candida and Porto; since then, Rufina and Seconda have been its co-patrons alongside Bishop Hippolytus. The relics of the two saints were later moved to Rome, to the Lateran Baptistery, where an altar still commemorates them today.

The procession and the mass

The heart of the festival is the evening procession, which begins at 6:30 PM from the church of Santa Maria al Castello di Porcareccia, just a short walk from the parish. The short but deeply felt procession accompanies the faithful to the church of Santa Gemma Galgani, home to the Ss. Rufina e Seconda parish, where at 7:00 PM a solemn mass is celebrated by the diocesan bishop, Monsignor Gianrico Ruzza.

The celebration brings together priests, religious figures, and representatives from parishes across the diocesan territory, which stretches from the Roman coast to the countryside northwest of the capital. It is one of the few times during the year that the entire diocesan community gathers around its patron saints.

A district and its identity

Casalotti and Selva Candida are districts that have grown rapidly in recent decades along Via Boccea, yet they retain clear traces of their rural and early Christian past: the Castello di Porcareccia, with its church, is the most visible example. The July 10th festival is the occasion when this ancient memory returns to the center of neighborhood life, with families gathering in the square at the end of the celebration.

The parish, entrusted to the Passionist Fathers, hosts numerous other initiatives throughout the year—including the feast of Saint Gemma Galgani, the church's namesake—but the feast of the martyr saints remains the defining event for the community's identity.

Why attend?

• An authentic patronal feast, far from tourist circuits, just a few kilometers from the center of Rome.
• The chance to learn about a lesser-known chapter of early Christian Rome: the martyrs of the Via Cornelia.
• A celebration presided over by the bishop, open to all and completely free of charge.
• An opportunity to discover the Castello di Porcareccia and the Selva Candida area, nestled between the city and the Roman countryside.