Four times a year the island's patron saint is carried round Corfu Town's old town with its bands: the town's biggest days. Next: Sunday 25 April 2027, 11:00.
When: Palm Sunday, Holy Saturday, 11 August and the first Sunday of November. Where: Old town, from Saint Spyridon's church round the Spianada and the Liston.
The saint's relics, upright in their casket, with the clergy, the bands and the town behind them.
Each procession gives thanks for a deliverance the island credits to its patron saint: on Palm Sunday for the plague of 1629–30, the longest, along the line of the old Venetian walls, with bands from all over the island; on Holy Saturday morning for the famine of 1553, with the Epitaph of his church; on 11 August for the Ottoman siege lifted in 1716; and on the first Sunday of November for the plague of 1673. The relics go out with the Metropolitan, the clergy, the island's authorities, schools and the philharmonic bands playing marches; in November prayers are said in front of the Old Fortress.
Along the Liston and the edge of the Spianada, where there is room.
The route differs from one procession to the next, but each leaves from and returns to Saint Spyridon's church and passes the Spianada. The Liston's arcade and the open side of the Spianada give the clearest view; the lanes around the church fill first and are hard to leave. Keep the way clear for the procession and the bands, and step aside when the relics pass.
Half an hour early; the streets close from the morning.
It sets off at 11:00 on Palm Sunday and the first Sunday of November and at 09:00 on Holy Saturday. On 11 August it has left at 09:00 in recent years, but that hour has varied, so check it locally. Cars are kept out of the old town for the morning: come on foot, or park at the edge of town.
A religious procession: be as quiet and respectful as at a service.
Many Corfiots cross themselves as the relics pass; nobody expects a visitor to, but keep your voice down and leave the flash off. The crowds are dense, Palm Sunday's above all, and bad weather can shorten the route, as it did in November 2026. After the Holy Saturday procession the saint stays at the door of his church, for the faithful to venerate, until the evening of Easter Tuesday.
Checked on 14 November 2026.