Italy’s permanent mission to the UN along with the international Christian association the Community of Sant’Egidio organized an exhibition, “The Art of Living Together,” at the UN headquarters at the beginning of November. Sant’Egidio is a non-governmental pro bono organization founded in 1968 in Rome that is committed to helping people with disabilities and advocating for their rights.

The exhibition concluded with a closing ceremony this past week after being on for ten days. It featured works from various artists, both disabled and non-disabled, most of them Italian, from Sant’Egidio’s Art Lab. The Art Lab, started in 1985, offers integrated and creative educational experiences to those with mental disabilities who had been previously refused them. This exhibition falls on the fiftieth anniversary of Sant’Egidio’s founding and on the fortieth anniversary of the “Bersaglia law”, which saw Italy become the first country in the world to abolish insane asylums, cited throughout the evening as a sign of the country’s long-term commitment to the rights of the disabled.