The patron saint of Trani is Saint Nicholas the Pilgrim, celebrated on 2 June: a young Greek preacher travelling to Rome, who died in Trani in 1094 after several days of illness and a number of miracles, and was canonised immediately afterwards by popular acclaim. In 1099, in the period corresponding to the First Crusade, work began on the construction of the current cathedral in his honour: even then the city's port held great importance, and would later become the departure and return point for several crusades. In the transverse crypt of the basilica, beneath the transept, notable relics were kept for centuries, including the body of the eastern martyr Saint Febronia, whose fine 18th-century reliquary and an oval painting are still preserved in the diocesan museum.
The city also venerates the Crucifix of Colonna, an ancient wooden crucifix stolen from the monastery of Santa Maria di Colonna in 1480 during a Saracen raid: with its nose mutilated, it is said to have miraculously begun to bleed and was thrown into the sea, an event still commemorated today with a procession of boats.
