The patron saint of Maniace is Saint Sebastian, celebrated on 20 January in the church dedicated to him; his martyrdom also appears on the municipal coat of arms, depicted in natural colours on a gold field.
In the 12th century, Queen Margaret of Navarre, mother of King William II of Sicily, had a Benedictine abbey built, Santa Maria dei Maniaci, on the site of a cenobium holding an icon of the Madonna, tradition says painted by the evangelist Luke: it had been erected centuries earlier by the Byzantine commander George Maniakes, in thanksgiving for a great victory won over the Muslims, and it is from him that the town takes its name. The abbey later became known as Castello Maniaci di Bronte, or Ducea di Maniace, and eventually passed to the descendants of the royal House of Hauteville, related to George Maniakes himself.
