The patron saint of Ribera is Saint Nicholas, celebrated on 6 December; his cult has been documented in the town since 1644.
The site chosen for founding the town was the Piana di Stampaci, also called Piano di San Nicola, from which it was possible to dominate much of the territory and make use of the water springs. In the decade 1640-1650 the population more than doubled, reaching 496 inhabitants, and in 1655 the town got its first church, dedicated to Saint Nicholas and later to Saint Anthony.
The present mother church, with three naves in Rococo style, began construction on 21 March 1751 and was completed in 1760; damaged by the Belice earthquake of 15 January 1968, which also shook Ribera, it remained closed until restoration work allowed its reopening in 1999. Among the town's other churches is that of San Nicolò di Bari, inaugurated on 12 June 1987 according to the principles of the Second Vatican Council, with a central altar and a hall with no barriers between presbytery and nave. The town was the birthplace of the statesman Francesco Crispi, whose birth house is today among Ribera's main civic monuments.
