The patron of Mazara del Vallo is Saint Vitus, celebrated on 15 June, and the tradition the people of Mazara feel most deeply is «u fistinu di Santu Vitu». The celebrations were born in the 17th century: on 23 August 1614 the city jurors resolved to add their fellow citizen Saint Vitus as co-patron beside the Most Holy Saviour, already patron of the city, and on 8 September of that year Bishop Marco La Cava approved. The celebrations were held in the four days before 15 June, then moved to between the second-to-last and the last week of August.
The festino opens with the Annunzio, a procession in 17th-century dress that winds through the streets and halts so that the herald can read out the proclamation; the saint's silver statue goes out in procession accompanied by sailors in traditional costume. It closes on Sunday: the image is taken aboard a fishing boat for the blessing of the sea, a laurel wreath is cast into the water in memory of the Mazara sailors lost at sea, and on landing the procession carries it back to the church of San Michele.
