Rome s traditional religious workshops struggle amid pandemic
Despite the challenges, artisans praise the personal, even spiritual, rewards of working with one s hands
Updated: May 09, 2021 02:28 AM GMT
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The neighborhood of ivy-draped two-story buildings, cobblestone streets and Marian shrines adjacent to St. Peter s Basilica in Rome is perhaps best known today for serving gelato and pizza to tourists visiting the Vatican.
History, however, knows the Borgo as the zone is called by locals as a village of ecclesiastical artisans who produce and restore religious articles for the Vatican and wider church.
With the rising costs of rent in central Rome, the abandonment of the artisanal trades by the younger generation and now the economic blow caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the tradition and ethos of the once vibrant neighborhood of workshops and craftsmen are disappearing.
Vatican s vanishing artisans: Traditional workshops struggle amid COVID-19
Chalices are pictured in the Savi Gioielli (Savi Jewelry) workshop near the Vatican in Rome April 15, 2021. Several Rome-based artisans who work in the Catholic sphere indicated that even if the pandemic were to disappear in a miraculous instant, the traditional trades still face an uphill struggle to stay profitable. (Paul Haring/CNS)
Catholic News Service
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) The neighborhood of ivy-draped two-story buildings, cobblestoned streets and Marian shrines adjacent to St. Peter s Basilica is perhaps best-known today for serving gelato and pizza to tourists visiting the Vatican.
History, however, knows the Borgo as the zone is called by locals as a village of ecclesiastical artisans who produce and restore religious articles for the Vatican and wider church.