Every year, the largest festival of the community of Lunigiana is celebrated at the Cathedral of Pontremoli. The 2 July is dedicated to the Sacred Image of the Madonna del Popolo, as it features in the liturgical year as the anniversary of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary; on the same day, prayers are also offered to the Madonna for having saved Pontremoli from plague in 1622. The celebrations are preceded by a three-day fast, which begins with the day of St Peter and finishes with First Vespers on 1 July. The festival follows Holy Mass in the co-cathedral; and after the evening's Second Vespers at around 7pm, the procession starts to parade through the streets, with all the confraternities taking part.
Sources: duomodipontremoli.it