The patrons of Rotonda are Saint Anthony of Padua, celebrated from 8 to 13 June, and the Madonna della Consolazione, celebrated on 18 August.
The origin of the feast of Saint Anthony goes back to the 13th century, when according to tradition the saint passed through Rotonda and stopped in the woods of the Pollino, at Marolo. The celebrations, both religious and civic, last about two weeks but reach their peak between 8 and 13 June, the day dedicated to the saint: the central rite is the «tree marriage» between the top of a fir tree, called «a rocca», and an enormous beech tree, called «a pitu» (a name that in dialect retains the memory of its origin as a fir), symbolising fertility. On 11 June «a pitu» is pulled by thirteen pairs of oxen, aided in its movement by the «pannulari», to Piano Pedarreto, where it is joined to the «rocca»: there, after a Mass celebrated at the foot of the saint's statue, the wedding rite takes place.
The former mother church of Rotonda, which stood at the foot of the baronial castle and is today known as the church of the Santissimo Rosario, dates from the 12th-13th century; next to it, in the 18th century, the church dedicated to Saint Anthony, the town's patron, was built by members of the confraternity of the same name. The sanctuary of Santa Maria della Consolazione once held an old statue of the Virgin dated 1512, stolen by unknown thieves on the night of 7 October 1976; its portal, dating from 1574, testifies to the old local tradition of the school of master stonecutters.
