Palermo Events and Festivals

(Palermo, Sicily, Italy)

The rich cultural heritage of Palermo is mirrored by the sheer number of fairs, feasts, festivals and other events that appear on the city's calendar each year.

Information about forthcoming events and festivals is available from Palermo's main tourist office, located on Piazza Castelnuovo.

An events' listing can also be found in two free publications, Agenda and Guida all'Ospitalità. Local newspapers are also valuable sources of information on things to do and are readily available throughout Palermo city centre.

Palermo Calendar of Festivals and Events 2014 / 2015

January

• Byzantine Epiphany - celebrations are held at Palermo's Martorana Church, including rites which are Greek Orthadox in character

February

• Carnevale - held in Termini Imerese, a suburb of Palermo. Floats and papier-mache decorations are paraded through the city's streets

March

• Feast of San Giuseppe - held on 19th March each year. A feast is organized throughout the city to honour the patron saint, St. Joseph. Traditional cakes known as 'sfinci' are baked

April

• Easter Celebrations - traffic grinds to a halt as the city stages some 39 religious processions during Easter Week. Each of these processions has its own distinct local character>

May

• Merit Cup Windsurf World Festival - mid-May, top-class windsurfers come to the beach at Mondello to compete in this prestigious windsurfing competition

June

• EcoVision Festival - during this international festival of the environment and cinema, over 100 films are screened and over 900 compete to win one of the Festival's prestigious prizes
• Solmusic Festival - Palermo's English Garden is the venue for this festival which is devoted to new talent on the music scene. Participating bands have a chance to become the winning group of the festival

July

• Festina di Santa Rosalia - this annual celebration of the patron saint of Palermo, Santa Rosalia, has been held in the city's streets for the past 400 years
• Verdura Festival - a summer festival which features a variety of music concerts, including classical, rock, pop, dance and flamenco. The venue for this event is the Teatro Massimo
• Kals'Art - a series of music, cinema and theatre events held in parks, city squares and historic buildings. There are also a number of guided walks included in the programme

August

• Festa Madonna della Catena - mid-August, during the day, worshippers gather at the Church of Saint Maria in Palermo. There is also a procession of the statues of The Madonna and the infant Jesus, as well as traditional singing

September

• Il Genia di Palermo - mid-September, this contemporary art exhibition takes place in a variety of venues throughout the city and is particularly focussed on helping promote new talent

October

• Palermo SuperMarathon - mid-October, runners compete in 'ultra' races, starting at Mondello beach. Events also include a marathon and half-marathon

November

• Tutti Santi - perhaps better known as All Saints' Day, Tutti Santi is celebrated in Palermo and other Sicilian towns as a national holiday. Children dress up and parade around the city's main squares and bakeries sell special pastries which are known as 'bones of the dead'

December

• Mezzojuso - the Feast of St. Nicola is celebrated in Palermo with the traditional blessing and distribution of small loaves of bread, all stamped with the saint's image
• Christmas Market - held for one week during December on Piazza Peranni. The city's Christmas and antique market is ideal for visitors looking for that special gift. Handcrafted items, including toys, jewellery and ornaments are on sale, along with cakes and other delicacies. There is also plenty of festive atmosphere and yuletide cheer to go around