Fabric of Saint Peter
Third edition of the School of Arts and Crafts underway
On Monday 4 November will see the official start for the twenty students, young aspiring stonemasons, marble workers, masons, plasterers, decorators, mosaicists and carpenters, with artistic studies, from different regions of Italy, but also from Malta and the United States
VATICAN, 31 OCTOBER – Restoring vitality and dignity to the craft tradition, which has bequeathed a precious artistic heritage of the past to be preserved and handed down intact to future generations.
The School of Arts and Crafts of the Fabric of Saint Peter in the Vatican with the Fratelli tutti Foundation thus continues its mission and inaugurates the third edition
Monday 4 November marks the official starting date for the twenty students, young aspiring stonemasons, marble workers, masons, plasterers, decorators, mosaicists and carpenters, with a background in artistic studies, who passed the selections over the past months.
Thirteen girls and seven boys aged between 18 and 25, from various regions of Italy, but also from Malta and the United States, will be welcomed, together with their teachers, in the Chapter Hall of the Vatican Sacristy. The greeting from Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, president of the Fabric of Saint Peter and director of the School, and Fr. Francesco Occhetta, secretary general of the Fratelli tutti Foundation, will be followed by interventions from Dr. Emilia Rio, director of operations of the Fabric of Saint Peter, and Dr. Assunta Di Sante, scientific director of the School.
After the presentation of the places and the rooms, the students will be guided in the discovery of Saint Peter’s Basilica by Dr. Pietro Zander, head of the Necropolis and Cultural Heritage Section of the Fabric.
The formative offering for the new semester, which will end in the last week of April 2025, will consist of cycles of lectures, seminars, guided tours, study visits and, above all, workshop activities in the workshops of the Fabric of Saint Peter.
There will be four courses, for stonemasons and marble workers; mosaicists; bricklayers, plasterers and decorators; and carpenters. The courses aim at the professional and human growth of the young craftspeople and the development of manual abilities, with historical and artistic learning, knowledge of the materials used and the acquisition of technical and technological skills.
The School unites the practical aspect with a human and spiritual component, with an integral approach that embraces all the dimensions of the person. Indeed, the students will also share the lodgings made available to them free of charge for the entire duration of the courses, precisely with a view to fostering the community and relational dimension.
The School is free, and the knowledge transmitted to the young aspiring craftspeople by the best master craftspeople of the Basilica. Therefore, the courses that have been activated are essentially those related to the most historically relevant tasks present in the Fabric and which also largely correspond to the craft activities still in demand in contemporary construction.
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 500 YEARS TWO FEMALE “SANPIETRINE”
Through the School, the Fabric chooses to invest in the training of new generations of craftspeople, making available its wealth of experience and craftsmanship tradition.
For the first time, after more than 500 years of activity, the Fabric has also chosen to employ two women in the corps of “Sanpietrini” who maintain the Vatican Basilica.
They are Lisa (26 years old, from the province of Padua) and Mariana (21 years old, from Reggio Calabria), both of whom have an artistic background and attended the School of Arts and Crafts. Together with them, last summer, Stefano, another former student of the School, joined the corps of “Sanpietrini” maintainers.
The presence of women is not a novelty in the long and ancient experience of art and labour in the Fabric, but in no case to date have craftswomen entered the “Sanpietrini” corps on a permanent basis, while the presence of female mosaicists in the Vatican Mosaic Studio linked to the Fabric has been consolidated for years.
In the past, from 1500 onwards, they were employed as widow or orphan workers, only for piecework or sporadic collaborations. The Fabric guaranteed them the same economic conditions and working treatment provided to men. Until now, however, none had managed to enter the “Sanpietrini”.
