Father Giuseppe Pagano is furious. The 65 -year -old Agostinian friar and his three monks, who have dedicated their lives to the silent prayer at the Santo Spirito monastery in Florence, are preparing to fight the plans to open a luxury nursing home in the place.
“We couldn’t be silent anymore,” Pagano told the CNN On Friday (21), a day after leading a protest in the monastery where Michelangelo lived and is now surrounded by construction equipment. “We are ready to occupy the terrain.”
“The day we hear the beginning of the works, we will be prepared to take the place and close the doors,” said Pagano. “A fine and prison time are a small price to pay to defend what is ours.”
Founded in 1397 to the friars and dedicated their lives to St. Augustine, the monastery has been under the care of the Agostinian Order for centuries.
Michelangelo lived and studied there, and the current complex, across the Arno River, in front of the historic center of Florence, still houses the wooden crucifix sculpted by the Renaissance master to his basilica.
The complex is partially owned by the Italian Ministry of Defense. In 1866, the then Italian state seized the upper rooms, relegating the friars to the lower areas.
Now, an old military barracks on site, which will be closed soon, can become a luxury nursing home, with balconies facing a closed courtyard used by the friars.
In 2022, the Ministry of Defense issued a notice to renew its part of the complex. The announcement was won by the Fastpol Development Company, specializing in luxury properties for retirees and hotels. The ministry announced the granting of the notice, but refused to comment on the current dispute with the friars.
The friars claim that they were kept completely in the dark on the plane.
“We had known for years that the army wanted to leave and asked them to keep us informed, just to find out that the Ministry of Defense had put (the courtyards) in bidding,” Pagano told people who participated in the protest on Thursday (20).
“The company that won is talking about a nursing home, but we suspect it will be more like a five star hotel,” added Pagano, referring to the budget and specialty of developers. “The idea of guests looking from the top windows to the only courtyard we use seems like a privacy invasion.”
Therefore, Pagano had the support of “Salviamo Firenze” (Salvem Florence), a group created to protect the city from excess tourism, which promised to join the monks in the protest, with plans to barge inside the monastery as soon as the works begin.
The friars living at the scene, along with the Augustinian University Villanova, Pennsylvania (USA), sent a request to meet with the Minister of Defense in the Monastery to present an alternative plan, which would include a community center for the city’s population. The request was unanswered, Payan said in an open letter to the mayor of Florence, published in the Italian press.
Lorenzo Calvani, the Augustinian lawyer, said they have prepared legal action if the development follows. “We will not stand still and watch,” he said on Thursday. “Let’s not leave stone on stone.”
Pagano and his friars also asked for support from the city of Florence, hoping that she support the alternative plan, which would include a library, a cafeteria, a conference room, as well as a student guest house.
Solidarity with the friars of Santo Spirito is growing.
Eike Schmidt, former director of the Uffizi Museum in Florence, is helping to raise support. “This concerns the history and identity of Florence, Italy and our civilization,” he told local press.
“Original sin dates back to the Italian unification period, when the building was divided between several administrations. But the scandal is the recent, when, in total silence, the concession to individuals has begun,” said Schmidt.
A press conference was marked to increase awareness of the cause of the friars. “Thank God, the mobilization expanded,” said Pagano. “The strength comes from the desire to save a place that has made history in Florence since 1250 (when the Agostinian order has established its base in the city). That continues without losing its identity.”
This content was originally published in Freis plan Protest in Monastery of Italy about to be sold on CNN Brazil.
Source: CNN Brasil
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