The patron saint of Ortona is the apostle Thomas, whose relics the town has kept since the 13th century: he is celebrated on the first Sunday of May, in the so-called feast of Forgiveness (festa del Perdono), and again on 3 July, the day he is celebrated throughout the Catholic world. Ortona forms with Lanciano a single archdiocese, that of Lanciano-Ortona, of which Thomas is patron together with the Madonna del Ponte, venerated in Lanciano.
It was precisely from the celebrations in honour of the patron that, on 3 May 1920, on the so-called «Monday of Forgiveness», the Maggiolata was born: a song festival initially named «Piedigrotta Abruzzese» and renamed the following year with the name it still bears today, in tribute to the month of May in which the festival was born. The event's organising committee was formed on 6 May 1920 at the Sala Eden, at the will of Annunciata Spinelli, wife of the poet Luigi Dommarco. Ortona is today also known for the bloody battle fought in the town during the Second World War, commemorated at the local Museum of the Battle of Ortona.
