The patron saint of Geraci Siculo is Saint Bartholomew, celebrated on 24 August. The church dedicated to him holds two paired columns from the 14th-century Augustinian cloister, a marble polyptych attributed to Antonello Gagini, and a late 18th-century wooden sculpture of the saint, stylistically linked to the sculptor Filippo Quattrocchi; next to it stands the former Augustinian convent from the late 17th century, which still retains its original layout. Co-patroness of the town, alongside Saint Bartholomew, is Maria Santissima Annunziata, solemnly celebrated on the second Sunday of July after a novena during which the traditional Stellario is sung in dialect.
The town grew up around the castle built by the Normans: in 1258 Enrico II Ventimiglia, by marrying Countess Isabella, was created Count of Geraci, and the family made it the capital of the county until the abolition of feudalism, extending its borders as far as Collesano, the two Petralie, Gratteri and Isnello. In the old town centre, near the church of San Giuliano, stands today the «Salto del Ventimiglia», a panoramic glass-and-steel walkway marking the spot where, tradition holds, Count Francesco I Ventimiglia threw himself and his horse off the cliff below in 1338 to escape the royal troops of Peter II besieging Geraci.
