The patroness of Leonforte is Our Lady of Mount Carmel, celebrated on 16 August: the imposing processional litter bearing her statue and that of Saint Simon Stock is carried through the town's streets. The church of the Madonna del Monte Carmelo, after the 1866 suppressive laws and the resulting dissolution of religious orders, was entrusted to the care of secular clergy.
The mother church, dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, was built around 1611 through the devotion of Princess Caterina, wife of Prince Nicolò Placido Branciforti, over a pre-existing small sanctuary; construction was completed in the second half of the 17th century. With the Norman conquest the fief passed from one local lord to another until, in the 15th century, it came to the Branciforti family, the town's founders. The town's coat of arms, a crowned lion with severed paws holding a flag, recalls the legend according to which the family's founding ancestor, Obizzo, fighting alongside Charlemagne against the Lombards, had his hands cut off in battle but still kept his side's flag held high: Charlemagne, proud of his courage, rewarded him with the city of Piacenza, and from then on the family took the name Branciforti. Among the town's other attractions are the garden and the fountain of the Nymphs and the Granfonte, also known as the fountain of the 24 Spouts.
