Every year, from May 1st to 4th, the feast of Sant'Efisio brings together the faithful, traditional clothes and colours from all over Sardinia in a moving and grandiose procession.
It is a very long pilgrimage with thousands of devotees coming from all over the island, who parade on foot, on horseback or on tracas, carts pulled by oxen and decorated with flowers and fruit.

SINCE 1652
It is not only the greatest manifestation of religious, cultural and identity of Sardinia: it is above all a solemn promise made on 11 July 1652 by the city to its protector.
Since then, it has always been honored, every spring, for more than 360 years, with deep devotion and sincere gratitude.

The life of Saint Efisio

According to tradition, Saint Efisio was born in Aelia Capitolina, a Roman colony within Jerusalem, around 250 AD. Orphaned by his Christian father, Cristoforo, he was raised in paganism by his aristocratic mother, Alexandra. Alexandra introduced her son to the court of Antioch, where Emperor Diocletian was present, who took him under his protection. Efisio enlisted in the Praetorians, became an officer, and was sent to Italy to participate in the campaign to exterminate the Christians, considered enemies of the state and Roman law.

Here the young officer experienced an event that changed the course of his life: while marching toward Naples (or Brindisi) at the head of his unit, he was thrown by a sudden flash of light. Then a voice said to him: "I am the Christ, the one you are persecuting." And a cross was imprinted on the palm of his right hand.

Following this prodigious event, Efisio decided to convert to the Christian faith and was baptized in Gaeta. He was then transferred to Sardinia to fight the Iliesi, the rebellious people of the interior: first he took up service in Tharros, then at the military command in Nora. Despite the anti-Christian edicts issued by Diocletian, Efisio began to publicly spread the Gospel and gathered a group of followers. Moreover, he wrote to the emperor, urging him to abandon the false gods and convert to the new religion. For this reason, he was summoned to Cagliari to meet with governor Julius, who ordered him to return to the ranks.

Efisio steadfastly refused to renounce the Christian faith, an act which forced the governor to arrest him and imprison him in a cell created from a cave, on the site where the church dedicated to him in Stampace now stands.

Here he was flogged, beaten, stripped of his flesh, and burned with burning embers. However, neither torture nor his mother Alexandra, who was called in by the imperial court, could persuade him to back down.

The new governor, Flavian, ordered Efisio burned alive as an example to all Christians, but the flames of the pyre fell upon the executioners themselves. Flavian then ordered his beheading by sword, to be carried out far from the city for fear of uprisings in defense of the martyr. The sentence was carried out on the beach at Nora on January 15, 286 (or, according to other sources, in 303).

It is said that before his execution Efisio formulated this prayer:
I pray to you, Lord, to protect the city of Cagliari from enemy invasion. May its people abandon the worship of the gods, reject the deceptions of the devil, and recognize You, Jesus Christ our Lord, as the one true God.

May the sick who pray at my burial place recover their health, and may anyone who is in danger at sea or threatened by invaders, tormented by hunger or plague, after calling upon me, Your servant, be led to safety.”