400° Festino di Santa Rosalia

ODD Agency co-produced the 400th Festino di Santa Rosalia and led its video content direction, working with Balich Wonder Studio. Artists, technicians, creatives and live performance professionals, most of them local, brought their skills together for the city and its shared celebration.

It was a spectacular, one-of-a-kind celebration: two additional floats followed the monumental triumphal float, raising the artistic performances above the crowds and making the show more visible. Other highlights included the pop-opera trio Il Volo performing from the Cathedral’s rooftops, the children’s choir of Palermo’s Teatro Massimo, and folk groups from across Sicily.

The triumphal float procession travelled through Palermo’s historic centre, from Palazzo dei Normanni to Porta Felice, undergoing four transformations for the first time in the Festino’s history. The monumental float took the form of a glowing golden ship, with Rosalia represented by an imposing nine-metre statue holding a red rose surrounded by white lilies. Through a play of light, the float transformed at each stop, following the procession’s theme and revealing itself to the audience as a symbol of a journey from darkness into light. The celebration reached its climax with the crowning of Saint Rosalia, ending in an outpouring of joy and colour at the final stop.