IT and US: Saving San Filippino

Sep 05, 2015 1798

WTI Magazine #67    2015 September, 4
Author : Rita Richardson      Translation by:

 

Why should people worldwide give their money, their time and their talents to restoring a small, ancient, boarded-up church in a small town in Tuscany? Because Oratorio San Filippino is not just any church. It is a modern day pilgrimage site. You won't find it if you Google "pilgrimage site in Tuscany." But you will find it if you close your eyes and think about our collective identity as spiritual, educated, civic-minded people who have inherited so much from our Italian Renaissance ancestors: Petrarch. Dante. Botticelli. Da Vinci. Michelangelo. Vasari. Pacioli. Palestrina.

You will find it if you think about our collective Christian heritage, and especially if you think about the decent, kind and brave souls in the late 1500s and early 1600s in central Italy who, like San Filippo Neri, dedicated themselves to celebrating and to serving others, regardless of race, class, gender, occupation or family status.

You will find the actual church of San Filippino if you travel to the classic Tuscan hill town of Castiglion Fiorentino — a medieval walled town located on the main rail line between Arezzo (the setting for Life is Beautiful) and Cortona (the setting for Under the Tuscan Sun). There, you will discover all that is good about Western civilization, about the Roman Catholic Church, about Italy, about small town people and about yourself.

The church is a proverbial hidden jewel. It's beautiful. But it's boarded up, abandoned and falling down. We can't let that happen. So we've created Friends of San Filippino -- a 501(c)3 tax-exempt nonprofit dedicated to saving it.

The bigger picture
Our hope is that people who are passionate about Italy will be moved to care about and connect with Oratorio San Filippino and Castiglion Fiorentino, Just as importantly, we hope our project will be used as a template for others to carry out similar works throughout our beloved Italy.

Make saving San Filippino part of your journey


1. Take a virtual tour of this exquisite baroque chapel on our facebook page: www.facebook.com/friendsofsanfilippino.


2. Make a donation on our website: www.friendsofsanfilippino.org.

Any amount is appreciated, and all donations to Friends of San Filippino are fully deductible to the full extent of the law.

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