Italy: the town of Fermo in motion

A concentration of Medieval towns and villages that are among the most beautiful in the country, ancient traditions, natural treasures, art and traces of an ancient culture that has sown Italy’s history with stories of a hard-working people that is tied to its roots. This is the central Italy that has been hit by an unfortunate series of earthquakes that continue to shake the region.

The Italian Province of Fermo includes forty municipalities from the Sibillini Mountains to the sand and pebble beaches along the Adriatic Sea. On a clear night you can see the lights of neighbouring Croatia from the 13th century Dome Cathedral of Fermo.

The Archdiocese also has ancient roots: Begun in the late 1500s, but going back to the 3rd century, it is the largest diocese in the region with120 parishes in 58 municipalities of the three Provinces of Ascoli Piceno, Fermo and Macerata. The Focolare’s Diocesan Movement began to take its first steps in the local Church of the region in 1973. As a branch of the Focolare Movement it works at the service of the local Church, offering and spreading the charism of unity in cooperation with other ecclesial groups, in order to make the Church a “Church-Communion”.

In the whole territory around Fermo the earthquake caused devastation, evacuation and much fear. Two hundred churches were closed because they became inaccessible. Loredana, from the Diocesan Movement, tells about the experience of being close to the victims: “Along the coast, numerous camps and touristic villages are hosting 25 thousand people. In one camp site at Porto San Elpidio the Civil protection Agency set up an operation centre for this region. The local citizens has hosted more than a thousand people, entire families with children and grandparents, but several thousand moved away from here before being directed to other facilities along the coast. We took up a collection among us animators, to buy basic necessities. We set up a small coffee bar for the volunteers and evacuees. Once this phase was finished, the mayor and the councillor for culture met with representatives from schools to request support in organising workshops and recreational activities. Three of us were there representing the Diocesan Movement, but we had many others behind us that we knew were willing to help. Together with them we organised activities for the children and tutoring for the teenagers, locating teachers for every day and offering desserts prepared by our mothers and grandmothers. Strong friendships were established with teachers, children, teenagers and the elderly. Many evacuees are elderly. In Monte san Giusto, for example, around 120 evacuees were offered hospitality, including 42 from a rest home and 30 in wheelchairs. Two of us offered ourselves – one a social worker and the other a municipal guard – to listen to their needs. There were many personal initiatives. The young people from Porto San Elpidio, for example, made a lot of small Christmas trees that they then gave away to the families at the camp site. In the end, we collected 1,200 eruo for the RImPRESA Project in support of small inland production activities.”