Monday, November 4, the official start for the twenty students, young aspiring stonemasons, marble workers, bricklayers, plasterers, decorators, mosaicists and carpenters, with a path of artistic studies, coming from different regions of Italy, but also from Malta and the United States.
VATICAN, NOVEMBER 1st
Restore vitality and dignity to the artisan tradition, which has left a precious legacy of artistic heritage of the past to be preserved and handed down intact to future generations.
The School of Arts and Crafts of the Fabbrica di San Pietro in Vaticano with the Fratelli tutti Foundation continues its mission and inaugurates the third edition.
Monday, November 4, the official start for the twenty students, young aspiring stonemasons, marble workers, bricklayers, plasterers, decorators, mosaicists and carpenters, with a path of artistic studies, who passed the selections of the past months.
Thirteen girls and seven boys between the ages of 18 and 25, coming from different regions of Italy, but also from Malta and the United States, will be welcomed, together with the teachers, in the Chapter Hall of the Vatican Sacristy. The greetings of Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, president of the Fabbrica di San Pietro and the Director of the School, Father Francesco Occhetta, general secretary of the Fratelli tutti Foundation, will be followed by speeches by Dr. Emilia Rio, operational director of the Fabbrica di San Pietro and Dr. Assunta Di Sante, scientific director of the School.
After getting to know the places and classrooms, the kids will be guided to discover St. Peter’s Basilica by Dr. Pietro Zander, head of the Necropolis and Artistic Heritage Section of the Fabbrica.
The educational offer for the new semester, which will end in the last week of April 2025, includes cycles of lectures, seminars, guided tours, study visits and, above all, laboratory activities in the workshops of the Fabbrica di San Pietro.
There are four courses, for stonemasons and marble workers; mosaic workers; bricklayers, plasterers and decorators; carpenters.
The training courses have as their objectives the professional and human growth of young artisans and the development of manual skills, with historical-artistic learning, knowledge of the materials used and the acquisition of technical and technological skills.
The School combines the practical aspect with a human and spiritual component, with an integral approach that embraces all dimensions of the person. In fact, the boys will also share the accommodation made available free of charge for the entire duration of the courses, precisely with a view to also promoting the community and relational dimension.
The School is free and the knowledge is transmitted to the young aspiring artisans by the best workers of the Basilica. For this reason, the courses activated are essentially those relating to the historically most relevant tasks present in the Fabbrica and which also largely correspond to the artisanal activities still required by contemporary construction.
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 500 YEARS TWO WOMEN SANPIETRINE
Through the School, the Factory chooses to invest in the training of new generations of artisans, making available its wealth of experience and its artisan tradition.
For the first time, after over 500 years of activity, the Factory also chooses to hire two women to join the staff of the sanpietrini maintenance workers of the Vatican Basilica.
They are Lisa (26 years old from the province of Padua) and Mariana (21 years old from Reggio Calabria), both with an artistic background, who attended the School of Arts and Crafts. Together with them, last summer, Stefano, another former student of the School, joined the sanpietrini maintenance workers.
The presence of women is not new in the long and ancient experience of work and art of the Fabbrica, but in no case until now had female workers entered permanently into the body of the sanpietrini, while for years the presence of mosaicists in the Vatican Mosaic Studio annexed to the Fabbrica has been consolidated.
In the past, starting from 1500, widows and orphans were employed as workers, only on a piecework basis or for sporadic collaborations. The Fabbrica guaranteed them the same economic conditions and working treatment as men. Until today, however, no one had managed to enter among the sanpietrini.
VATICAN, NOVEMBER 1st
Restore vitality and dignity to the artisan tradition, which has left a precious legacy of artistic heritage of the past to be preserved and handed down intact to future generations.
The School of Arts and Crafts of the Fabbrica di San Pietro in Vaticano with the Fratelli tutti Foundation continues its mission and inaugurates the third edition.
Monday, November 4, the official start for the twenty students, young aspiring stonemasons, marble workers, bricklayers, plasterers, decorators, mosaicists and carpenters, with a path of artistic studies, who passed the selections of the past months.
Thirteen girls and seven boys between the ages of 18 and 25, coming from different regions of Italy, but also from Malta and the United States, will be welcomed, together with the teachers, in the Chapter Hall of the Vatican Sacristy. The greetings of Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, president of the Fabbrica di San Pietro and the Director of the School, Father Francesco Occhetta, general secretary of the Fratelli tutti Foundation, will be followed by speeches by Dr. Emilia Rio, operational director of the Fabbrica di San Pietro and Dr. Assunta Di Sante, scientific director of the School.
After getting to know the places and classrooms, the kids will be guided to discover St. Peter’s Basilica by Dr. Pietro Zander, head of the Necropolis and Artistic Heritage Section of the Fabbrica.
The educational offer for the new semester, which will end in the last week of April 2025, includes cycles of lectures, seminars, guided tours, study visits and, above all, laboratory activities in the workshops of the Fabbrica di San Pietro.
There are four courses, for stonemasons and marble workers; mosaic workers; bricklayers, plasterers and decorators; carpenters.
The training courses have as their objectives the professional and human growth of young artisans and the development of manual skills, with historical-artistic learning, knowledge of the materials used and the acquisition of technical and technological skills.
The School combines the practical aspect with a human and spiritual component, with an integral approach that embraces all dimensions of the person. In fact, the boys will also share the accommodation made available free of charge for the entire duration of the courses, precisely with a view to also promoting the community and relational dimension.
The School is free and the knowledge is transmitted to the young aspiring artisans by the best workers of the Basilica. For this reason, the courses activated are essentially those relating to the historically most relevant tasks present in the Fabbrica and which also largely correspond to the artisanal activities still required by contemporary construction.
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 500 YEARS TWO WOMEN SANPIETRINE
Through the School, the Factory chooses to invest in the training of new generations of artisans, making available its wealth of experience and its artisan tradition.
For the first time, after over 500 years of activity, the Factory also chooses to hire two women to join the staff of the sanpietrini maintenance workers of the Vatican Basilica.
They are Lisa (26 years old from the province of Padua) and Mariana (21 years old from Reggio Calabria), both with an artistic background, who attended the School of Arts and Crafts. Together with them, last summer, Stefano, another former student of the School, joined the sanpietrini maintenance workers.
The presence of women is not new in the long and ancient experience of work and art of the Fabbrica, but in no case until now had female workers entered permanently into the body of the sanpietrini, while for years the presence of mosaicists in the Vatican Mosaic Studio annexed to the Fabbrica has been consolidated.
In the past, starting from 1500, widows and orphans were employed as workers, only on a piecework basis or for sporadic collaborations. The Fabbrica guaranteed them the same economic conditions and working treatment as men. Until today, however, no one had managed to enter among the sanpietrini.