Bad weather on Sunday, September 26, raises the roof on St Mary Theotokos Shrine.
Last Sunday was a day of bad weather all over northern Italy, with strong winds and thunderstorms, hail, roofs torn off and trees uprooted. This storm front reached Loppiano yesterday afternoon while the Mass with the children was being celebrated at Theotokos Shrine. “We heard and could see a strong wind beating against the windows,” reports one of the mothers. “After a while, a lot of water began to rain into the church!”
The powerful wind had lifted the copper mantle of the Shrine’s copper roof and immediate action was taken in response to the situation, drying copious amounts of water that poured into the church, securing exits and churchyard, and removing the metal sheets that the wind had dragged to the ground.
Even the children did their part: some helped with the mops and buckets while the little ones sat on the steps in front of the altar where they played a game to let the older children give a hand with the cleaning up.
Elena Di Taranto, architect and collaborator with the citadel’s technical facility, and technical director of the design studio at the Centro Ave Arte: «We are still evaluating the damage to the rest of the citadel as well. We will have a more precise picture shortly, especially for the roof of the church where the consequences will become more evident as time goes by. This morning we ascertained that about 300 square meters of covering were literally sucked away by the wind, and the timeliness of the companies that were consulted allowed us to immediately secure the interior, so that the sanctuary can still be used. The possibility that this event will force us to accelerate some ulterior renovations that were already planned for the complex cannot be ruled out.”
Among the damages to the citadel, there have been some uprooted trees and even a car that was crushed under the trunk of an acacia.We thank everyone for the support shown through messages on WhatsApp and other social networks. For those who wish, we remind you that you can always contribute to the maintenance of the Shrine by clicking HERE
These increasingly frequent violent natural events confront us with the serious climate crisis we are experiencing, reminding us of the urgency of taking action for the care of our planet, renewing our commitment to a real ecological conversion, starting with ourselves and the decisions we make each day.
