Feast of St John the Baptist

The Feast of St John the Baptist is the most deeply felt religious and popular event in Aci Trezza, celebrated every year on 24 June, and represents a moment of profound devotion and intense collective participation. At the heart of the festival is the solemn ‘unveiling’ of the statue of the Saint, kept throughout the year inside the Church of St John the Baptist: at dawn, amidst songs, prayers and applause, the statue is revealed to the faithful, officially marking the start of the celebrations.

After the unveiling, the statue of St John is carried in procession through the streets of the village, accompanied by marching bands, fireworks and an enthusiastic crowd honouring the patron saint with great devotion. The streets come alive with colours, illuminations and traditions handed down from generation to generation.

A unique feature of the celebration is the folk pantomime “U Pisci a Mari” (“the fish in the sea”), a theatrical performance in dialect that evokes the daily life of the fishermen of Aci Trezza. Staged directly on the seafront, it involves the village’s inhabitants in a performance with an ironic and symbolic tone, which has become an integral part of Aci Trezza’s cultural identity.

The Feast of St John the Baptist is therefore much more than a simple religious festival: it is a moment of community, a living testimony of faith, tradition and folklore that every year draws residents, emigrants and visitors, captivated by the intensity and beauty of a ritual that uniquely blends the sacred and the popular.