SS. Salvatore Festival

A religious festival in the heart of summer

The SS. Salvatore Festival is one of the most cherished events of the summer in Valmontone, a town in the Metropolitan City of Rome, nestled on a tuff hill between the Prenestini Mountains and the Sacco Valley. The Municipality of Valmontone includes it annually in its official calendar of institutional events, religious feasts, and traditional festivals, scheduling it for August 12th, 13th, and 14th at the Prato della Madonna, the area just outside the historic center along the street of the same name. The highlight is August 14th, when the solemnity of the Most Holy Savior is celebrated in the Sanctuary of the Madonna del Gonfalone, as recorded by the Suburbicarian Diocese of Velletri-Segni.

The Sanctuary of the Madonna del Gonfalone

The spiritual heart of the festival is the sanctuary built in 1508 outside the city walls under the title of Sancta Maria Nova extra Muros, located at the Prato della Madonna. Tradition tells of a farmer who, while tilling the soil, discovered an image of the Virgin under a stone: this is the Madonna del Gonfalone, to whom popular devotion has attributed numerous miraculous events over the centuries. In 1738, the building was renovated by architect Gabriele Valvassori, who redesigned its layout while preserving the entrance portal and the apse of the original church. Severely damaged by the 1944 bombings, the sanctuary was restored in the 1950s: today, one can still admire the elegant Renaissance tympanum portal, with the date MDVIII engraved, and an apse fresco on tuff depicting the Virgin nursing the Child, dating back to between the second half of the 14th and the first half of the 15th century.

Three days of community at the Prato della Madonna

Like many religious festivals in Lazio, the SS. Salvatore Festival alternates between liturgical moments and social occasions: celebrations at the sanctuary, maintained by the Collegiate Parish of Santa Maria Maggiore, are accompanied by the popular festivities that enliven the square in the evenings leading up to Ferragosto. The driving force behind this site is the Associazione Culturale SS. Salvatore: in August 2025, just days before the festival, the association unveiled the statue of the Madonna della Pace, inaugurated on the newly renovated square by the municipal administration.

Valmontone, between Baroque art and tradition

The festival is also an opportunity to discover Valmontone, dominated by the 17th-century Palazzo Doria Pamphilj, now a museum, and the Collegiate Church of Santa Maria Maggiore. The Valmontone summer is marked by a busy calendar of traditional religious festivals: in late July, Saint Anne and Saint Anthony of Padua are celebrated, while the SS. Salvatore Festival ideally closes the path toward Ferragosto. Its location along the A1 motorway, about forty kilometers from Rome, makes the event easily accessible for those spending their summer break in the capital or the Castelli Romani area.