The official patron is the Immaculate Conception, yet the feast Cefalù celebrates hardest belongs to the Holy Saviour, to whom the Norman cathedral is dedicated. From 2 to 6 August the town lines up religious services, concerts and folk parades.
These are also the days of pasta a taianu, the feast dish: layers of pasta, beef-and-lamb ragù, fried aubergines and pecorino, baked in the terracotta pot — the taianu, a word of Arabic origin — that gives it its name. Families cook it at home and restaurants put it on the menu.
Everything builds towards 6 August, the day of the Transfiguration, when the 'Ntinna a mari contest takes over the old marina. The 2026 programme opened on 2 August with a parade of folk groups.
