The patron saint is Saint George, a soldier from Cappadocia who was martyred under Diocletian in 303. He is celebrated on April 23.
The Vow, which gave rise to the festival and has historical significance for the town, dates back to the Plague of 1631. In that year, the epidemic described by Manzoni had reached Sorriva, claiming many victims, so much so that the town was quarantined and surrounded by guards. The dead, exhumed, were buried in designated graves (in the Pian dei mort area), as recalled by the parish priest Don Francesco Todeschi. The doctor Zaccaria del Pozzo took action to have everything that could spread the contagion burned.

Thus, the population, through the two family heads Tomio and Baldassarre De Cia, turned to Saint George, promising to sanctify the commanded holidays, fast on the vigils, and lead a truly Christian life forever. However, such promises proved to be too burdensome from the outset, and it was decided to commutate the vow by perpetually sanctifying the feast of Saint George (on April 23) and offering the church a painted leather altar frontal. Additionally, a procession and the distribution of bean soup to the town’s poor were added.

Even today, this particular tradition is respected: the Mass of the Vow is celebrated on April 23, while the beans are collected from house to house, then prepared and cooked, to make the soup that is distributed the Sunday following the feast of the saint. On that day, a procession takes place with the cappati (figures dressed as members of the dissolved Archconfraternity of the Most Holy Sacrament) who carry crosses, torches, and the banner.

A Mass of suffrage is then celebrated with the blessing of the soup, prepared each year by three different families, which is then distributed by the conscripts (twenty-year-olds of the year) to all those present in the town. Alongside all this, an animated festival takes place, characterized by a distinctly gastronomic and folkloric flavor.

Food and wine stand and the unmissable San Dordi procession with the blessing of the “San Dordi soup”