Apr 30, 2018 | Focolare Worldwide
Umberto Giannettoni
The first youth festival in Loppiano was on 1 May 1971. “After a meeting with the Prior of Taizé in Rocca di Papa (Rome), Chiara Lubich had described the town as a “town of the youth.” On a stopover in Loppiano on his way to Padua, Giorgio Marchetti, a close collaborator of Chiara, recounted what Chiara had said. This news for Umberto was like a flash of light in his soul, and he felt he had to answer Chiara immediately. During the weekend he organised an outing with the heads of the school of the focolare, to the Muraglione Pass in the Apennines. In a bar at the Pass he reflected on the possibility of holding a big meeting of young people in Loppiano, on the first of May […]. The young people of various zones and countries would be invited to participate with an artistic piece. When they left the bar, they were surprised by a particular scenery. The road was a sheet of ice. The rain had caused it after the lowering of the temperature. The vans couldn’t hold the road, and they had the impression that someone wanted to stop them from developing the decision made […].” “There was a very talented group of young people in Loppiano. Among them was Heleno Oliveira, a young Brazilian singer-songwriter, who would have been a big help for the artistic part. Everyone worked hard. On 1 May 1971 in the natural amphitheatre in Campo Giallo, we saw the arrival of thousands and thousands of young people under a splendid sun. The event, to which many in Italy and Europe had contributed, resulted to be very effective for the youth who left in the evening, happy and filled with the divine they had experienced. From Trent came Paolo Bampi, a boy affected by leukaemia, who sang a captivating song: “…but what are you seeking, what do you want…” Then came Gen Rosso with the song, “God who is Love.” Then theatre pieces and dances followed. Each single number was given a “first prize,” which the jury awarded according to various reasons: beauty, unity, content, and commitment. It was a crescendo of sincere and explosive joy which contaminated everyone. As evening came, under the rays of a sun which turned everything gold and in a solemn calm after the intense day […] we strongly felt the presence of Mary.” After a second festive meeting of the youth in 1972 with an even greater attendance, “Chiara Lubich understood that it would be an important tool for the whole youth movement. She decided to involve the World Gen Centres which would participate in the organisation of the “Genfest” of 1973, still in Loppiano. In that year, Fr. Pasquale Foresi (cofounder of the Focolare Movement) was present and gave an important speech on the call to follow Jesus. In the open-air amphitheater, there were almost 10,000 young people. That was the birth of the Genfest! Source: www.loppiano.it Live streaming: https://www.primomaggioloppiano.it/live/
Feb 23, 2018 | Non categorizzato
Chiara Favotti
During adolescence, going with the Gen and the young people from the united world project, and the any experiences we shared, opened my heart far beyond the walls I knew. It made me hope and think big, of a truly united world. It wasn’t a fantasy, but a new way of thinking, of moving in a new direction, taking little steps, but made of real and authentic brotherhood. I took part in the 1990 Genfest with them. It was an unforgettable experience. For the first time, there was an explosion of happiness, young people from east and west looked in each other’s eyes and squeezed each other’s hands as television cameras broadcasted the scene in the Paleur Stadium to millions of television viewers around the world. We were given a mandate: to bring love back into the world. “Friendship and kindness aren’t enough,” said Chiara Lubich. “Philanthropy isn’t enough, neither are solidarity or non-violence. We have to change from being people focused on their own small interests, to being small daily heroes who are at the loving service of their brothers and sisters in every neighbor.” The next year I left for Moscow. The iron wall that separated East and West may have fallen, but at a great price, pulverizing ideals and an entire social system. There were no winners, nor losers, only the disillusioned, suffering and widespread poverty. It was clear to me: It’s not enough to bring down a wall to create a free and just society. Now, those words that I heard at the Genfest are the only way forward for me: “Only in harmony with each other and forgiveness toward each other can you build a real future.”
Chiara Favotti
Dec 14, 2017 | Focolare Worldwide
I was born in Bergamo,(Italy), the first of four children in a beautiful family with solid Christian roots. At seventeen I was in high school and involved in the parish. I loved school, helping others and going on trips to the mountains. I had a lot of friends and a rich faith experience. As they used to say back then, I was “good kid,” but … I always felt something was missing. I wanted something beautiful, great and true. Italy was going through hard times with assassination attempts by the Red Brigades and a job crisis. My father who was in metalworking, was laid off and later lost his job. The injustice of it all bothered me, as did the social conflict, but I also could feel being made to renew society. I spent hours talking with friends, debating, but it only left me empty inside. 
One day, Anita, a girl from the parish, invited me and my sister to the Genfest that was going to be held in Rome. She told me we’d meet thousands of young people from other countries and also the Pope. There was something special about Anita, a special joy and sincerity that shone in her eyes and, like others at the parish – the priest, two catechists and a seminarian – she seemed to have a secret: they were always open to everyone, willing and really able to listen. With a good dose of unawareness my sister and I took off on a bus with a hundred young people from the parish and headed for the Genfest in Rome. We arrived late at the Flaminio Stadium because of an accident and wound up sitting in the last rows on the highest seats where there was no roof – and we were very far from the stage that had a sign that read: For A United World. It was pouring rain, and I was drenched. I began to ask myself why I had ever agreed to such an excursion. But just then some young people from Switzerland who were sitting just below us, offered us some plastic sheeting to cover ourselves with; they offered us some food and binoculars, so we could follow the show more easily. We spoke in different languages, but understood one another right away. I experienced the liberty of love freely given, and a great sense of welcome and acceptance. Despite all the rain, colorful dances took turns on stage. It seemed like I had stepped into another dimension. Forty-thousand young people filled with enthusiasm were flowing in from every corner of the world – all of them giving witness to the Gospel they were really living. 
Then a small woman with white hair got on stage. It was Chiara Lubich. I looked at her through binoculars. As soon as she began to speak a deep silence fell over the crowd. I was enraptured more by the sound of her voice than by what she said, by the conviction that emanated from her words, by their power that stood in contrast to her fragile appearance. She spoke of a “moment of God,” and, even though she presented several lists of divisions, breakups and the overall disunity of the human race – she was proclaiming a great ideal: a united world, Jesus’s own ideal. She invited us to bring the divine into the life of society, into the world – through love. Her talk only lasted a few minutes while I found myself being crushed by a feeling I had never had before, which – afterwards – no sorrowful nor difficult event could ever dent in: a united world is possible and I have the amazing possibility of building it with my own life! I had found it! I wanted to live like Chiara, like those young people I was among that afternoon, to have their faith, their push, their joy. 
The next day there was a rousing encounter with John Paul II at Saint Peter’s Square. During the return trip home, me – timid as I am – I bombarded the Gen with questions: I wanted to know everything about them! I began to visit them in my city, and the Gen talked to me about their secret: love for Jesus Forsaken in all the large and small sufferings in us and around us. I somehow realized that this was a radical experience of God I was dealing with here, one without half-measures. Jesus Forsaken was calling me to give Him everything, to follow Him. I was filled with an enormous fear: for me it me it was ALL or NOTHING. Strong suffering and pain were never lacking in the months following the Genfest. But the life I had begun with the Gen, the possibility of giving a meaning to pain, the unity among us that was made of concrete love and sharing, helped me to carry on, in spite of every obstacle – in an amazing adventure that widened my heart. I was experiencing that with God among us, all is possible and that the possibility of the unity of the human family was really doable.
Patrizia Bertoncello
Nov 20, 2017 | Focolare Worldwide
Patrizia Mazzola
y background was in the Scouts, so I couldn’t believe that I could take part in this new experience. The invitation was extended to many other students at my school, and finally, together with my sisters, we made up our minds to attend, even though I remember that at the last minute I was tempted to stay back as I had to undertake an exam. The others encouraged me to go and so we left Palermo on a number of buses. With me I took my inseparable guitar, songbooks and tape-recorder, which at that time was rather cumbersome. During the trip, I was favourably impressed by some of the girls, the Gen, who were already living the spirituality of unity. I was struck by their attitude, the attention they were giving to everyone, the climate of harmony and serenity that they created among us, despite our exuberance, the moments of reflection that followed when we listened to the songs of Gen Rosso and Gen Verde, which I learnt to play straightaway with great enthusiasm 
It was March 1st, 1975. The Sports Palace in Rome which had gathered 20,000 young people from five continents, made a powerful impact on me. I immediately experienced the power of the Gospel when it is lived. For example, it was the first time that I found myself sharing deeply with someone who was sitting next to me, thus having the experience of living as brothers and sisters. My dream, to see a world of peace, a united world, came true, right there. I was amazed and awestruck by the personal testimonies so much so that I almost had to pinch myself to believe that all this was happening. I listened attentively as they shared their stories from the stage: the two young people from South Africa where apartheid had not yet been defeated, the group from Belfast where there was conflict due to religious and political division. They were tangible signs that, if we really commit ourselves, we can achieve peace there where we live.
The next day, we all gathered at the Vatican, in St Peter’s Basilica, where Chiara Lubich presented us to the Holy Father. During the offertory, twelve young people, representing us, walked up with Chiara on the altar. I remember there was an endless applause. Consequently, during the Angelus (midday prayer) in St Peter’s Square, the Pope greeted us with words encouraging us to go on: “This morning, around the altar, we had twenty thousand faithful, the young Gen – New Generation – who came from all over the world. The beauty of it was something moving. We thank God and take courage. A new world is born: the Christian world of faith and charity.”
It was truly the beginning of a new world. For me it marked the beginning of a new life.
Patrizia Mazzola
Oct 24, 2017 | Non categorizzato
An unending line of buses filled with young people clamoured up the narrow roads that rose from Incisa Valdarno, Italy, to Loppiano. Such a long carcade hadn’t been expected and threatened to throw off the plans. Who would have expected 10,000 young people to come for what would then turn into a yearly event in many cities of the world? It was a real invasion that made all the jaws of Loppiano’s citizens drop. It began on a day of spring sunshine that burst from hearts and faces after a vigil of wind and rain: the first Genfest in history! And I was there! Yes, I was there! “Vivir para cantarlo,” García Márquez would say. “I live to sing it!” I can still see Loppiano’s natural amphitheatre in front of me, filled to the brim with young people from Italy and several other European countries, many hours of travel behind them – and also representatives from other countries around the world: like me from Argentina.
Fr Pasquale Foresi delivered a message from Pope Paul VI
Participants from South Africa
The group from Argentina
Gustavo Clariá
