The patroness of Custonaci is Our Lady of Custonaci, celebrated on the last Wednesday of August. The sanctuary of Maria Santissima, built around 1500 and around which farming settlements gathered over the centuries to give rise to the town, holds a 15th-century oil panel, the work of the school of Antonello da Messina, depicting the Virgin nursing the Child: tradition has it that the image was given by a French ship which, having survived a storm after invoking the Madonna, took refuge in the gulf of Cornino. The image was solemnly crowned in 1752.
On 26 August 2009, after as many as 73 years, the painting was carried in procession once again amid heartfelt popular participation. The feast today includes liturgical celebrations, a re-enactment of the historic landing of the Madonna, and a procession of the statue through the streets of the town, amid marching bands, illuminations and fireworks; within the municipal territory also lies the Grotta Mangiapane, where a famous living nativity is set up every Christmas.
