Pozzallo has two patrons: Saint John the Baptist, celebrated on 24 June, and the Madonna del Rosario, on 7 October. The feast of Saint John begins about a week earlier, when the image is placed on the float and the hymn dedicated to the saint is sung.
The central moment, preceded by shows and street performers, is the sea procession, the varchiata: the statue is set on a fishing boat decked with flowers and followed by a cortege of smaller craft, and during the ceremony the boats are blessed. The town's mother church, meanwhile, is that of the Madonna del Rosario, neoclassical, built between 1876 and 1937 and dedicated first to Saint Peter, then to the Madonna del Rosario in 1891.
