Palermo - Monte Pellegrino

Legend has it that after this uprising, in which her father Count Sinibaldo della Quisquina also took part, the young noblewoman Rosalia left the royal court and became a recluse in a cave on the mountainside, where she died on fourth September 1166 after leading a saintly existence. On 15th July 1625 she appeared before two hermits and directed them to the cave where she had lived. There they found her body and a stone with her name on it. When her mortal remains were taken to Palermo an epidemic which had been raging there suddenly ceased; since then she has been the city's patron saint. She is remembered particularly on 13th-15th July, when the people celebrate the finding of her bones, and on fourth September, the anniversary of her death.