The dream of many thinkers and pioneers
with a strong philosophy or rich spirituality
has been to build a town that puts these ideas into practice.
This was also true of Chiara Lubich.
And as the years pass, this is becoming a reality.
Models for a new kind of society
There are presently 35 little towns, all at different stages of development, spread throughout the five continents. They look like real, tiny, modern, towns, with houses, shops, meeting spaces, artistic centres, workshops, and small businesses that help to support the inhabitants, as well as a church, and schools of formation and spirituality.
The little towns, through the life style they promote, can offer new ideas for life in bigger towns and cities. They are models of a new kind of society, whose law is mutual love, the law of the Gospel, with the full communion of cultural spiritual and material goods that this entails. Through the life that circulates, their outreach in the world has remained constant. Each year they have thousands of visitors.
Business parks
In the little towns in Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Belgium and Portugal, business parks already exist or are being built. These parks welcome and bring together firms that work in the spirit of the Economy of Communion.
Every little town has its own special features
What distinguishes the first little town, which began in 1964 at Loppiano (www.loppiano.it), Incisa Valdarno (Florence), is its internationality. 
With over 800 inhabitants from 70 different nations, it is a model of a united world, where the various races and peoples of the world are fused together in unity.
The little town at Montet (http://www.focolari-montet.ch/IT_HOME.htm) , Switzerland, is also international, with the aim of forming men and women in a life dedicated to the service of their neighbour , and of instilling in them an openness to dialogue.
The witness of Ottmaring (www.ottmaring.org) in Germany, is unity between Catholics and Evangelical Lutherans while unity between Catholics and Anglicans is fostered at Welwyn Garden City in Great Britain. 
At Tagaytay (Manila) the focus is interreligious dialogue.
The three little towns of Brazil (Sao Paulo, Recife, Belem) attempt to address the social problems of the region.
At O’Higgins (www.mariappolis.org.ar) near Buenos Aires in Argentina, the little town attracts many young people committed to furthering the civilization of love.
Unity in a multi ethnic society is evident in both the little town near New York in the USA (Mariapolis Luminosa), and at Krizevci in Croatia.
Fontem, in the heart of the forest in Cameroon, is an important place for the inculturation of the Christian gospel in African Society. The witness of practical love given by doctors of the Focolare Movement, invited to assist the Bangwa people affected by illness and a high infant mortality rate, led this people and others around them to begin a journey of faith and fraternity. This can also be seen in the little towns coming to life in Kenya and the Ivory Coast.
An ecological emphasis and the relationship between human beings and the natural environment, is a distinguishing feature of the little town at Rotselaar (www.focolare.be) a few kilometres from Bruxelles.
In Europe there are other little towns in Poland, Spain, France, Ireland, Switzerland and Portugal.
In Latin America others are coming to life in Mexico (El Diamante), Venezuela and Chile.
In Australia a Centre for Unity is being built near Melbourne.
If you want to know more, see “Piccole città crescono” (“Little towns are growing” ) in Città Nuova magazine N.5/2005 (www.cittanuova.it/art_ul01.asp?ID=13209) .
