24–25 January
Festival of Saint Paul the Apostle
The peak of the winter ritual cycle. A re-enactment of the frugal meal that Roman farmers offered the captive Apostle in the spring of AD 61.
At 4:00 a.m. on 25 January, the winter silence is broken by the Sveglia di San Paolo (Saint Paul's Reveille): a musical march paced by drums that runs through every alley, followed by morning fires. It is a collective summons, a kindly order to rise and walk up to the chapel.
Lupin beans & wine — A shared identity
At the top of the hill, after the blessing, lupin beans and wine are handed out for free to every pilgrim. The lupin bean — a bitter legume that needs long soaking to become edible — paired with wine embodies a farming ethic: human labour redeeming the wild fruit of the earth, then shared in evangelical equality.
7 August
Madonna SS. delle Grazie — The torchlight procession
The date is no accident: it marks the coronation of the tuff icon on 7 August 1960, led by Cardinal Santiago Luis Copello.
A three-day prayer cycle, then the striking night-time torchlight procession that draws lines of light along the outer roads and up the hill. By day, brass-band concerts; by night, open-air shows in the squares.
10 August · Night of San Lorenzo
S. Paolo under the Stars
A night-time toast organised jointly by the historic committees of the two patron saints — Paolini and Mariani — at the top of the Saint Paul hill, on the night of the shooting stars. An embrace under the stars between the two devotional souls of the village: proof that old rituals can renew themselves without losing their meaning.