The patron saints of Valsinni are Saint Fabian, pope and martyr, celebrated on 9 and 10 May, and Our Lady of Mount Carmel, on 21 July. The feast of Saint Fabian opens on the evening of 9 May with solemn vespers and the kissing of the saint's relic; the following day sees a solemn Mass, and in the afternoon the statue is carried in procession through the streets accompanied by the town band, while in the evening a band concert is followed by the raffle draw and fireworks. The relics are kept in a chapel built on the remains of a medieval chapel, which holds frescoes, a 16th-century crucifix and a Neapolitan-style nativity scene.
The town, recorded from the 11th century under the name of Favale, was the setting for the tragic story of Isabella Morra, a Petrarchan poet killed by her brothers at just 26 after they discovered her epistolary relationship with the Spanish poet Diego Sandoval de Castro, baron of Bollita; the castle that still dominates the old town bears her name and is the setting of the 2005 film Sexum superando – Isabella Morra.
