The patron saints of Bisceglie are Saints Maurus, Sergius and Pantaleon, celebrated on the first Sunday of August: their relics, found in the town in 1167, are kept in the crypt of the town's cathedral. According to tradition, Sergius and Pantaleon were two knights who arrived in Apulia with orders to arrest Bishop Maurus, who instead converted them to Christianity; both were later martyred by the Roman proconsul of Venosa. The cult of the three saints established itself as the town's new protection at a time when Bisceglie's first protector was still Saint Anthony the Abbot, celebrated with a fair in January, while the feast of the three patrons was traditionally held in July.
The town turned to their intercession more than once in its most difficult moments, such as during the 1736 plague and the 1836 cholera epidemic. In the late 17th century, the town's life was marked by the presence of Bishop Pompeo Sarnelli, who held the Bisceglie see from 1692 to 1724. The local carnival, which traditionally begins on 17 January, the feast of Saint Anthony the Abbot, still today involves the ritual of eating, on the last days, u cùcue de carnevòle, a typical sweet of Bisceglie tradition.
