May 8 is a major feast day in Pompeii, and numerous faithful are expected from all over Italy and the world for the supplication to Our Lady of the Rosary.
The solemn celebration will be presided over by Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, president of the Italian Episcopal Conference and archbishop of Bologna. 
He will celebrate Holy Mass at 10:30 and then, at noon, address the Marian supplication composed by Blessed Bartolo Longo to the Virgin. 

What are the origins of this prayer, and why is it so dear to the faithful? 

The history of this text, so rich in spiritual meaning, is very distinctive and dates back to the end of the 19th century. 
The supplication was written by Bartolo Longo in 1883, under the title “Act of Love for the Virgin”, in response to Pope Leo XIII's invitation to Catholics, calling them to a spiritual commitment aimed at confronting society's ills. On September 1, 1883, the encyclical Supremi apostolatus officio had in fact been published, in which the Pope identified the prayer of the Rosary as the sure means of attaining the spiritual good of society and the Church, afflicted by «serious calamities». 

The concerns and appeals expressed in Leo XIII's encyclical, together with the Blessed's personal reflections, thus found expression in the text of the “Supplication to the Powerful Queen of the Most Holy Rosary”, which was first recited on October 14, 1883. 
That was the first step that led the supplication to become an essential instrument for spreading Marian devotion throughout the world. 
On May 8, 1915, the prayer made its way into the Vatican: at exactly noon, Benedict XV recited it in the Pauline Chapel. This tradition continued with subsequent Pontiffs. 

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Pope Francis also recalled the Pompeian solemnity in 2013, during the Wednesday audience, saying: «Today, May 8, the intense prayer of the “Supplication to Our Lady of the Rosary” of Pompeii, composed by Blessed Bartolo Longo, is being raised. We spiritually join in this popular act of faith and devotion, so that, through Mary's intercession, the Lord may grant mercy and peace to the Church and the entire world».

Why recite the powerful supplication?

For believers, praying to Our Lady of Pompeii means “expressing their identity as children who turn to her, the Mother whom Jesus gave us from the heights of the Cross,” as the text of the Supplication recalls. This filial bond makes us intimate and familiar with the Virgin Mary and with God.
The powerful Supplication is an act of love for the Virgin Mary and is solemnly recited at noon twice a year: on May 8, the anniversary of the laying of the shrine’s foundation stone, and on the first Sunday of October, the month dedicated to the Rosary. It is a universal prayer. Indeed, through the Supplication, Bartolo Longo gave voice to the love that rises from earth toward heaven. It is a prayer for Italy, Europe, and the whole world: the Blessed was right to call it the “Hour of the World.” Although the text of the Supplication has undergone various revisions over time, arriving at its current wording, it is the most famous prayer in the world.

Blessed Bartolo Longo: “man of Our Lady”

As a university student, he drifted away from the Church and from the life of faith that had been passed on to him through the religious education he received from his family and the Piarist Fathers. However, he returned to the faith after an experience that deeply marked him. It was October 1872 when Bartolo Longo first arrived in the desolate, wild area of Arpaia and, as he himself recounted, heard a voice whispering to him: “If you seek salvation, spread the Rosary. It is Mary’s promise. Whoever spreads the Rosary is saved!”. 

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It was not easy for him to change his life, and it certainly required a difficult journey of conversion, but from that day onward, spreading the prayer of the Rosary became the primary purpose of his life. When John Paul II beatified Bartolo Longo on October 26, 1980, he called him a “man of Our Lady.” In his homily, the Pope added: “For love of Mary he became a writer, an apostle of the Gospel, a promoter of the Rosary, and the founder of the famous shrine amid enormous difficulties and adversity; for love of Mary he created charitable institutions, became a beggar for the children of the poor, and transformed Pompeii into a living citadel of human and Christian goodness.”