The School of Arts and Crafts of the Fabbrica di San Pietro offers young people full-time, free training in the crafts of the past. The School revives centuries-old traditions, promoting community, spiritual growth, and hands-on learning in the heart of the Vatican. “The School of Arts and Crafts safeguards European cultural heritage through its holistic program, which combines craft training with academic and spiritual development in an environment that is open to diverse students and free of charge,” reads the Award Jury’s statement. “The creation of lasting bonds between participants and the potential for progress towards employment or further education are notable strengths,” commented the Europa Nostra jurors.

Over the years, the awards have promoted excellence in heritage and best practices in Europe, encouraged cross-border knowledge exchange, and connected heritage actors in wider networks. The awards have brought great benefits to the winners, such as greater international exposure, additional funding, and an increase in visitor numbers. In addition, the awards have encouraged European citizens to pay greater attention to their shared heritage.

Click here to watch the award ceremony.

Click here to see the project’s presentation.

The post Europa Nostra award to the School of Arts and Crafts of the Fabbrica di San Pietro. The award ceremony in Brussels. appeared first on Fondazione Fratelli tutti.

They have highlighted and disseminated heritage excellence and best practices in Europe, encouraged cross-border exchange of knowledge, and connected heritage actors in wider networks. The Awards have brought great benefits to the winners, such as increased (inter)national exposure, additional funding, and increased visitor numbers. In addition, the Awards have fostered greater attention to common heritage by European citizens.

The School of Arts and Crafts was evaluated by a Jury, a brief comment of which we quote: “The School of Arts and Crafts of the Fabbrica di San Pietro safeguards Europe’s cultural heritage through its holistic program, which combines craft training with academic and spiritual development in an environment that is open to diverse students and free of charge. The creation of lasting bonds among participants and the potential for progression to employment or further education are notable strengths”.

Download the Press Release

Read the Project Text

The post School of Arts and Crafts of the Fabbrica di San Pietro wins Europa Nostra Awards 2025 appeared first on Fondazione Fratelli tutti.

– The School is free of charge

– For the entire duration of the courses, the School provides flats free of charge in which the students will live together. The community dimension is indeed the added value of the experience

– Students will have lunch free of charge at the Vatican Canteen

– Classes will be held on the premises of the Fabbrica di San Pietro inside Vatican City

– The courses will last about six months, from October 2025, with compulsory attendance. There will be 600 hours of lessons, of which 200 will be dedicated to basic and specialised teaching and extracurricular activities, while 400 to laboratory practice

– Students must guarantee attendance of at least 75% of the hours set out in the teaching plan

– The School is reserved for 20 young people (female and male) between the ages of 18 and 25 that have obtained  an artistic school-leaving certificate, a technical institute diploma (for the CAT courses), a professional institute diploma (for  the Maintenance courses), an IeFP professional diploma (for the diploma for Woodworking Technician and Artistic Workmanship Technician), or a foreign qualification equivalent to the Italian one. University students who meet the requirements are also admitted

– Italian and foreign students may attend the School, provided they have a B2 level knowledge of Italian.

– To be admitted, candidates must pass a selection to verify their logical/aptitude skills and assess their motivation.

– The School will issue a Certificate of Acquired Skills upon passing a final exam

Candidates will have to formalise their application by filling in the form, which will be accessible from June 2, 2025, via a special link, from the institutional website of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican and that of the Fratelli tutti Foundation.

The deadline for submitting applications for admission is August 15, 2025.

Download the brochure.

The post EDUCATIONAL PROJECT – 4th Edition School of Arts and Crafts appeared first on Fondazione Fratelli tutti.

Applicants will have to formalise their application by filling in the form, which will be accessible from June 2, 2025.

The training offer for the new semester, which will start in October 2025, offers five courses:

-stonecutters and stonemasons;

-bricklayers, plasterers and decorators;

-carpenters;

-blacksmiths;

-mosaicists.

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 students will also share the accommodation provided free of charge by the Fabbrica for the entire duration of the courses, with a view to fostering the community and relational dimension as well.

How to participate – The School is reserved for 20 young people between the ages of 18 and 25 in possession of an artistic diploma, a technical diploma (with reference to the CAT courses), a professional diploma (with reference to the Maintenance courses), an IeFP diploma (with reference to the diploma for Woodworking Technician and Artistic Workmanship Technician), or a foreign qualification equivalent to the Italian one. University students who meet the requirements are also admitted.

Discover more.

Download the brochure.

Fill in the form to formalise your application.

The post Fourth edition of the School of Arts and Crafts: applications open until August 15, 2025 appeared first on Fondazione Fratelli tutti.

Applicants will have to formalise their application by filling in the form, which will be accessible from June 3, 2024.

The training offer for the new semester, which will start in October 2024 and end in March 2025, offers five courses: stonecutters and stonemasons; bricklayers, plasterers and decorators; carpenters; blacksmiths and mosaicists.

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 students will also share the accommodation provided free of charge by the Fabbrica for the entire duration of the courses, with a view to fostering the community and relational dimension as well.

How to participate – The School is reserved for 20 young people between the ages of 18 and 25 in possession of an artistic diploma, a technical diploma (with reference to the CAT courses), a professional diploma (with reference to the Maintenance courses), an IeFP diploma (with reference to the diploma for Woodworking Technician and Artistic Workmanship Technician), or a foreign qualification equivalent to the Italian one. University students who meet the requirements are also admitted.

Read the brochure.

Fill in the form to formalise your application.

The post Third edition of the School of Arts and Crafts: applications open until August 18, 2024 appeared first on Fondazione Fratelli tutti.

The calendar of lessons for the new class of 20 pupils, 12 girls and 8 boys from Italy, Spain and Latin America, will start tomorrow, Tuesday 31 October 2023.

This year, two new courses will be added to the educational offer: the courses for blacksmiths and mosaicists will be added to the courses for stonemasons, stonemasons, bricklayers, decorators, plasterers and carpenters, which were already activated in the last edition that ended in June 2023. Like last year, the lessons will take place within the Vatican walls, between classroom meetings and workshop activities.

The young people selected for the second edition, all between the ages of 18 and 25, were welcomed this morning to the lodgings arranged for them by the Fabbrica di San Pietro and in which the students will live for the duration of their training experience at the School.

The School of Arts and Crafts in fact proposes an integral educational approach, which aims at the full development of the person in his or her individual and community dimension and, thanks to the constant accompaniment of a community animator, encourages a growth that is spiritual, human and professional at the same time.

Welcoming the students on arrival were Fr. Francesco Occhetta, Director of the School and Secretary General of the Fratelli tutti Foundation, and Deputy Director Gloria Amaduzzi.

In the afternoon, the class reached St. Peter’s Basilica for the opening ceremony in the Chapter House, where students and teachers met Card. Mauro Gambetti, Archpriest of the Basilica and President of the Fabbrica di San Pietro, and Dr. Assunta di Sante, scientific director of the training project. At the end of the ceremony, Prof. Pietro Zander led the students on the first visit of the course to the Vatican Basilica.

The post School of Arts and Crafts: new courses start appeared first on Fondazione Fratelli tutti.

For the first edition of the St. Peter’s Factory School of Arts and Crafts (January-June 2023), half of the applications were submitted by girls, all between the ages of 18 and 25. It is probably surprising to imagine young women aspiring to perform trades that have always been considered the exclusive preserve of men, if only because of the physical commitment required.
However, since the sixteenth century, in the construction site of St. Peter’s Basilica the presence of female workers employed in this kind of work is anything but episodic.
In fact, among the “sanpietrine” of the past, exemplary for their tenacity, resourcefulness, entrepreneurial spirit, courage and family love, we find master masons, carters, pozzolaniere, fabbre, fornaciare, vetrare, mosaicists, wood and stone carvers, who enjoyed substantial economic parity and consideration compared to their male colleagues.
Paola, Giovanna, Francesca, Lucia, Anna Teresa, Vittoria, Maria Angela, Agnese, and Maria Felice are some of the names of female artists and artisans who worked for the Fabbrica di San Pietro with the opportunity to practice their craft independently and draw a livelihood from their artistic qualities.

The post The craftswomen of St. Peter’s Factory, a story that starts in the 500s appeared first on Fondazione Fratelli tutti.

The 20 pupils completed their exams just last week and are now getting ready to put into practice the knowledge they have learned through lectures and workshop activities, in close contact with the Sanpietrine craftsmen.

The school aimed at aspiring stonemasons, stonemasons, masons, plasterers, decorators and carpenters is adding courses for mosaicists and blacksmiths for the next training semester, which starts in October 2023.

Registration for the courses, which will be held from October this year to March 2024, is open until next July 25. Using a holistic approach, the School of Arts and Crafts aims to combine practical knowledge, also enriched by new technologies and the experience of tradition, with the human and spiritual dimensions.

The school is free of charge: pupils will be offered communal lunches and lodging, which they will share. It is open to Italian and foreign students-with a B2 level knowledge of the Italian language-and aged between 18 and 25, who hold an artistic license, technical institute diploma, professional institute (with reference to the Maintenance courses) or a foreign qualification equivalent to the Italian one. The courses are also open to university students if they meet the requirements.

The post First edition of Arts and Crafts School concluded appeared first on Fondazione Fratelli tutti.

This is why the portal offered Father Francesco Occhetta, General Secretary of the Fratelli tutti Foundation, the opportunity to explain in a few lines the meaning and importance of the School of Arts and Crafts, the school of practical knowledge that is kicking off its second edition. Contrary to what was announced in the announcement, the deadline for submitting applications has been moved to July 25, 2023. The beautiful and successful experience of the first edition is coming to an end these very days.

The school, promoted by the Fabbrica di San Pietro in collaboration with the Fratelli tutti Foundation, is offering two new courses for the new training semester, one for blacksmiths and one for mosaicists, which will be added to those for stonemasons, stonemasons, masons, decorators, plasterers and carpenters. The courses will start in October 2023.

from Spirito Artigiano, of Fr. Francesco Occhetta, June 16, 2023

The School of Arts and Crafts of the Fabbrica di San Pietro in the Vatican is designed to restore authority to the craft tradition. Past and history, matter and techniques, tradition and innovation: the training model of the Vatican School aims at an integral dimension of education that knows how to reconnect speculative and practical knowledge by bringing into dialogue and integrating technique and technology, craft activities and theoretical study.

We place ourselves in the groove of the tradition that Confartigianato also promotes: to return to investing not only in hands (the skills of pupils and teachers), but also in the head (reason, the meaning to be given to the project) and the heart, the dimension of affections and will that directs choices to the good and the beautiful.

The School intends to sustain and pass on to young people the heritage of knowledge and skills handed down by so many generations of artisans at St. Peter’s Factory, where practical experience and savoir-faire have been an authoritative reference for centuries, despite the progress of technology and the application of the scientific method to the building site.

The proposed courses are related to the tasks that serve the St. Peter’s Factory and correspond to the craft activities still in demand in contemporary construction. Thus, starting next October 2023, the three courses activated for the first edition of the School – masons, plasterers and decorators; carpenters; stonemasons and stonemasons – will be joined by a course for blacksmiths and one for mosaicists.

The duration is semester-long, with in-person and mandatory attendance. The planned 600 hours are divided into lecture classes conducted in the classroom and practical activity classes conducted in the laboratory.

The theoretical subjects provide students with the essential fundamentals from the point of view of history, knowledge of materials and construction techniques, with indispensable insights into contemporary working techniques.

Lessons take place in the classrooms specially set up in the premises of the Palazzo della Canonica, inside Vatican City, and teaching is entrusted to the staff of the Technical Office of the Fabbrica as well as to cultural heritage professionals and university professors from various Italian and foreign universities. The students begin their study day at 9 a.m. and end at 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. They eat lunch in groups at the Vatican cafeteria and their presence has brought a new air.

The School’s methodological approach assigns a central role to practical workshop activity in which theory and practice, didactics and work merge into a highly effective training course.

In the teaching, carried out in the workshops of the Factory, the institution’s best internal skills, the Sanpietrini craftsmen, as well as external technicians with proven experience were involved.

Through this form of active apprenticeship and generational transmission of knowledge, students can immerse themselves in the life of the Vatican Basilica, to learn about its places, people, organization and spirituality, immersing themselves in the privileged context that hosts them.

The students admitted in the second year will continue to be 20, to foster the community and sobriety dimensions the students will live from next October in 3 apartments while this year they are living in a hotel facility of religious.

At the end of the training, which is free of charge, and after a final examination, the School will issue a certificate of the skills acquired by the students.

The School has also chosen to make the learning achieved by its students visible in the Italian national system. Therefore, a study was conducted that identified the regional pathway of IVC (Identification, Validation and Certification of Competencies) as the way forward; in this way, the emergence and certification of acquired competencies will constitute an additional added value both for access to the labor market and for a possible continuation of the training pathway.

The School is part of a more global project that the Fabbrica and the Fratelli tutti Foundation, chaired by Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, are carrying out and that includes the training of the Basilica’s guides, an important digital restoration, a study commission to reread some major routes within the Basilica and other projects still.

“The School,” stressed Card. Mauro Gambetti – will help us plant a seed in the soil of human promotion, of formation aimed at serving culture, the women and men of our time and the Church. Thanks to the centuries-old tradition guarded by the Fabbrica di San Pietro, the professionalism of the sanpietrini and the scientific contribution of the international academic scene, we will try to bring as fruit a truly integral formation, capable of involving, with the teaching of arts and crafts, the spiritual dimension, the cultural and anthropological dimension, ethics and the care of community life.”

Finally, it is necessary to ask: what then is the meaning of the School? The course has a holistic approach: it aims at the knowledge of materials, techniques and technologies and the development of manual skills, but also at the human and spiritual growth of young future craftsmen. Rather than betting on the verb teach, which means to put in, we are investing in the verb educate, from educere, meaning to bring out desires and talents.

Throughout the centuries the artisans of the Fabbrica di San Pietro have left us this legacy: beauty comes from the alliance of hands, mind and heart.

The post 06.20.2023 – School of Arts and Crafts: Father Occhetta’s talk for Spirito Artigiano appeared first on Fondazione Fratelli tutti.

The educational offerings for this semester, which will begin in October 2023 and end in March 2024, will be enriched with two new courses: that for blacksmiths and that for mosaicists. The two new courses will join those for stonemasons, stonemasons, masons, decorators, plasterers and carpenters already planned for the first edition.

The school combines the practical aspect with a human and spiritual component, with a holistic approach that embraces all dimensions of the person. The students, in fact, will also share the housing provided free of charge for the entire duration of the courses, precisely with a view to fostering the community and relational dimension as well.

How to participate – The school is free of charge and open to Italian and foreign young people-with a B2 level knowledge of Italian-and aged between 18 and 25, who hold an artistic license, a technical institute diploma (with reference to CAT courses), a professional institute diploma (with reference to Maintenance courses), an IeFP professional diploma (with reference to the diploma for woodworking technician and technician for artistic workmanship) or a foreign qualification equivalent to the Italian one. The courses are also open to university students if they meet the requirements. Classes will be held in-person, on the premises of the Fabbrica di San Pietro. The students will follow cycles of face-to-face lectures, seminars, as well as guided tours, study visits and workshop activities.

Click here to download the announcement (in Italian)

Click here to download the enrollment request (in Italian)

The post 06.19.2023 – Second edition arts and crafts school: time to participate until July 25, 2023 appeared first on Fondazione Fratelli tutti.