Romena

"It looks like a fairy tale"

Claudia walking on early morning from Prato Vecchio to Romena (about 3 km) for the morning Praise God. Looking at the sunrise over the valley she said: "it looks like a fairy tale".

Jesus the carpenter

The smoke of a candle just turned off after the evening Praise God. There are 3 little chapels adorned by Father Luigi Verdi, using wooden artifatcs he made, to honor Jesus as a carpenter that he was.

The redemption's stone.

The ancient Romanic church with the connected plebeian house. The "Pieve" used to be a minor church annexed to a rural comunity. When it was built in the 1152 ac the comunity people was very poor, they were living a famine in "tempore famis", but they offered the best of their crativity to the divine, to stop the tribolations. The crisis it became an instrument of redemption.

The hug

Two students embrace on the Garden of Beauty. On that day 400 students of the Valdarno's high school came for a daily visit at Romena. They spent the morning on the auditorioum learning about real life's experinces connected with the comunity, and visiting the Roman church. Father Luigi Verdi complains about the fear of future of the young generations, and accused parents and teachers of having stolen their dreams.

"The reception tastes of bread"

Before lunch. The reception tastes of bread, passes through the bread, wrote Francesco Guccini, an Italian songwriter who has been guest at Romena.

Lunchtime

Filippo, Sergio and Luca laughs during lunchtime. Lunch is the real moment of reunion of the comunity people.

At work

Filippo and Andrea paint wooden beams of the Coltriciano house. The new comunity house will have a library and a reading room at the bottom floor, and 4 singles rooms on top floor. At Romena residents are involved on daily work, some of them is permanent staff and receive a regular pay, some others are temporary guests and they receive free room and board in exchange of helping the daily work.

Andrea

Andrea, 37 years old, from Trento, lived and worked in Bologna as a computer scientist. He recently gave up his work and making new spiritual experinces around Italy. Beside Romena he lived in a Buddhist center in Umbria. He's an atheist.

Gigi

Father Luigi Verdi founded Romena in 1991 after a deep personal crisis. He choosed the medieval Pieve of Romena (minor church) and built a fraternity around it.

Saint Francis's tree

Stars over the Garden of Beauty and the Saint Francis's tree illuminated at night. The tree is dedicated to Saint Francis playing music for the woodland creatures. Saint Francis it's been walking through the Casentino mountains, which today remain a Spirituality Valley.

The ancient Roman church based on the spiritual's Camaldoli valley, is the hearth of the fraternity founded on 1991 by Father Luigi Verdi, who is the only religious man of the comunity runs by laic people . Romena doesn't ask your religion, if you are a believer or not; Romena offers the opportunity to get back in touch with yourself, and discover the value of relationships.