The patron saint of Mascali is Saint Leonard of Noblac, celebrated on 6 November, whose cult was probably brought to the area by the French centuries ago. In 1693 the Val di Noto earthquake left Mascali half destroyed, but its people almost all survived, a unique case among the communities of eastern Sicily, because at the moment of the strongest tremor, on 11 January, they were in an open-air procession carrying precisely the saint's relics.
A crucial date in Mascali's history, however, is 6 November 1928, Saint Leonard's feast day: lava from Etna, erupting from a vent that had opened at low altitude and channelling into the Pietrafucile stream that crossed the town, buried Mascali entirely, leaving intact only a small outlying portion, today's hamlet of Sant'Antonino. Today's town centre, whose cathedral is dedicated precisely to Saint Leonard of Noblac, arose in the 1930s further downhill from the destroyed town.
