The patrons of Ovada are Saint Paul of the Cross and Saint John the Baptist, celebrated on 18 October. Saint Paul of the Cross was born in Ovada in 1694, after the town, having just come through a plague, had decided to build the church of the Beata Vergine della Concezione as a token of thanksgiving. His birthplace, overlooking the same square as the sanctuary dedicated to him, was declared a national monument in 1918; the museum housed there holds relics and objects that belonged to the saint.
Saint John the Baptist, meanwhile, is venerated in the 17th-century oratory named after him, which holds the wooden group of the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist, the work of the sculptor Anton Maria Maragliano. Ovada's territory also holds the sanctuary of Nostra Signora della Guardia, dating from 1661.
