The patron saint of Montagnareale is Saint Anthony the Abbot, celebrated on 17 January.
Against the wishes of the local nobility, the town was sold in the 17th century to Don Antonio Scribano, a Genoese, who on 13 July 1639 resold it to Don Basilio Sidoti, who took possession of it with the title of duke. Under the rule of the Sidoti and, later, the Vianisi families, Montagnareale grew economically and demographically, despite plagues, famines and earthquakes, including the terrible one of 1693.
The town preserves the Mulino di Capo, purchased by the municipality in the 1980s and restored: it is the only one, among the many mills once active along the Montagnareale stream, still perfectly functioning. In the mother church, dedicated to the Madonna delle Grazie, a heartfelt procession is held every 15 August in which the statue of the Virgin, weighing about 1,900 kilograms, is carried on shoulders through the town's streets; each district also has its own small church, such as that of San Basilio at Laurello or that of the Madonna del Tindari at Santa Nicolella.
