According to Giuseppe Pitrè, the anthropologist doctor who collected Sicilian customs, characters, and games, there was a saying in Palermo, "mi cunti li cincu jorna di lu fìstinu," which means "tell me about the five days of the festival," implying there is nothing outside those days that people know everything about.

This is because Palermo has always found in its folds the Festino, the saint. From that distant 1624, when the relics discovered on Monte Pellegrino ("inventione") were carried around the city, eradicating the plague – as the legend goes – Palermo has always paid homage to its patron saint. Even before the discovered remains were examined by religious authorities, the Senate had already declared her the "patroness" and vowed to hold annual celebrations.

The first "Festino" was in 1625, with setups, routes, musicians, and lights. Heralds shouted that no one should wear "mourning clothes." In 1631, some ephemeral "apparati" (setups), altars, and "machines" were introduced.

The "triumphal float" did not yet exist; it would make its appearance in 1686 when the Senate entrusted Paolo Amato with its design – an enormous overturned and gilded shell topped with the eagle, the city's symbol. Under the shell, twenty-two musicians played, with three choirs positioned on the sides. But the most awe-inspiring was the Saint herself: blonde, elegant, with a crown of roses and a white lily, holding a flag. The float was pulled by twelve horses disguised as bears, lions, and elephants. It was the triumph of grandiose Baroque scenic apparatus, dazzling the common folk with golden dust; today, one might call it an appeal to religious sentiment in the search for a collective identity.

The festival lasted five days, with the float traveling from Porta Felice to Porta Nuova on July 11, then returning towards the sea. Until the early 18th century, the procession consisted of five floats: four small ones depicting episodes from the saint's life and one larger one with the patroness's Triumph.

Since then, the "floats" have become increasingly spectacular, described by foreign writers and poets of the Grand Tour, captivated by the popular festival, the devotion of men and women, and the towering setups. The tradition was interrupted in 1858 – the official excuse being the "re-paving of Via Toledo" – and resumed in 1896 when Giuseppe Pitrè himself designed a three-level setup so imposing that it got stuck at every street corner among the shanties and alleys of the historic center, not yet "cut" by Via Roma.

Until that moment, the Festino had combined the famous float route with fireworks at the Marina, while blind storytellers, accompanied by somewhat impromptu violinists, sang the story of the Santuzza. The day of July 15 was entirely dedicated to the religious procession of the silver urn with the relics and the participation of the confraternities. A public lottery, La Beneficiata, was launched, and Barbary horses raced through the city's streets.

In 1924, for the third centenary of the relics' discovery, the tradition of the triumphal float was revived, although it was static, not in motion; we were between the two wars, and in twenty years, Palermo would be destroyed by American bombs. Thinking about the Festino was out of place; we would have to wait until 1974 when the Christian Democratic mayor Giacomo Marchello entrusted architect Rodo Santoro with designing the famous historical "float" that would remain in vogue for at least fifteen years. Santoro was inspired by Paolo Amato; under the famous shell-ship, there was even a whole orchestra; it was pulled by 24 pairs of oxen from Godrano.

The year 1999 saw Jérôme Savary incur the wrath of the then archbishop for his Festino "Symphony of the Two Worlds," with Cuban sounds and rhythms, musicians, and semi-nude dancers, a mix of Rio and Ballarò.

Between 2000 and 2001, the float with silver wings created in the 1998 edition paraded, with the addition of a prow in the shape of a Saracen, designed by set designer Fabrizio Lupo: it crossed the ocean and paraded for Columbus Day in 2003 and 2004. And it is still in New York.

In 2007, the floats were different; everyone remembers the one by Greek artist Jannis Kounellis, who imagined a fishing boat with a sail entirely woven with Swarovski crystals.

The 2019 float was entirely created by inmates of the Ucciardone prison, under the guidance of Fabrizio Lupo; last year's float paid tribute to Biagio Conte and Father Pino Puglisi, marking the thirtieth anniversary of his assassination.