The patrons of Erice are the Madonna di Custonaci and Saint Julian, and the holiday falls on the last Wednesday of August. The bond with the Madonna di Custonaci is an old one: in 1574 Monte San Giuliano — as Erice was then called — obtained from Pope Gregory XIII the patronage over the miraculous painting, and in 1630, by a municipal decree, elected her principal patroness.
The feast, which according to some historical sources began in 1572, lasts four days and closes on the last Wednesday of the month. In the days before come the novena and the pilgrimage which, setting out from the Sperone, reaches the sanctuary of Maria Santissima di Custonaci; on the heads of the Virgin and the Child the 18th-century crowns are placed. Erice's other great date is Good Friday, with the Procession of the Mysteries and its 19th-century floats carried on shoulders.
