The testimony of one of the four pioneers who came to found the little town. The memories of a citizen of Incisa Valdarno. Then the first person born in Loppiano, while the latest addition is the Association of Fellow Citizens. Newcomers and leavers also introduced themselves.
You could have imagined he was about to say words laden with prophecy to account for his presence among the first four pioneers who arrived with the crazy dream of founding a little town. But he said quite simply: “Why had I been chosen? Only God knows,” And then he added, “Perhaps it was because I was among those with fewer fixed commitments among the focolarini after the last school in Grottaferrata.” That’s all. No charismatic spark, neither in his motivation nor in his tone of voice. Marcelo Clarià, an Argentine doctor, a well-preserved 84, is the only one still alive of the four pioneers who arrived 60 years ago to build the first little town of the Focolare Movement.
However, he went on to explain, “We only knew that Chiara Lubich and Don Foresi had already been on site 2-3 months before, and they were enthusiastic about this project. This was the motive; this was the fire which did not fade once we arrived in the abandoned countryside above Incisa Val D’Arno. We found ourselves amid mud and chickens. There was pretty much everything to do. But it was as if we were in a little cloud, with our heads in heaven. We were very excited, and we could already foresee the little town.” Here was the driving force. They saw what Chiara had intuited and not the banality (and the difficulties) of the situation.
Together with Marcelo were “Emilio, a Tuscan, former textile worker, former music student and singer of a certain prominence in the ‘dancing’ of the immediate postwar period; Enrico, from Trieste, a former merchant; Alberto, an accountant, who came from Argentina,” as Gino Lubich reported a few years later in his book Loppiano, a new town, describing, not without humour, the period of foundation. Four pioneers with no specific expertise. But they saw clearly the potential of Loppiano.
Marcelo was connected by videoconference with the Loppiano Auditorium. The interview was one of the “highlights” of the family celebration for Loppiano’s 60th anniversary held on Saturday, Nov. 23. The pioneers arrived, according to Gino’s book, on Sunday, October 4, 1964 (although Marcelo claims they arrived a month earlier), but the date of the celebration was moved to the second half of November so as to rejoice both with the Focolare General Council and leaders of the Movement from around the world – who had come for two weeks to hold their annual meeting – and with those (young people, families, priests) who had arrived in recent weeks to stay until next summer.
Mauro Mugnai, a citizen of Incisa Valdarno, the town down the hill, shared his own reaction: “They must be crazy. How will they support themselves, living in a depopulated countryside,” which was the general opinion of the local people. He said that they were “baffled by the various skin colours, the different faces and the many languages spoken.” For seven-year-old Mauro, however, it was one discovery after another. His parents ran the local hardware store, which became a popular destination for the newcomers. Getting to know Mauro’s family was a gradual and very positive. For the rest of the population, however, it took the flooding of the Arno River in November 1966, which inundated Incisa. The focolarini and focolarine went down the hill to help those in the mud. “So, prejudices were broken down and everyone discovered,” Mauro reported,” that those lads were very generous and also very normal.
Maria Regina was due to be born in October and in the province of Bergamo. Agnes and her children went down to Loppiano in1965 for their summer holiday so they could be close to their father Tino (Piazza). The little one did not want to wait and so the first citizen of Loppiano was born in September. “During the birth,” she pointed out, “the focolarini went around the little house reciting the rosary. The midwife, who saw (and heard) from the open window that band of young people, was puzzled. The same young people, who then went off into the countryside to find clothes for me. They returned with new, little dresses and even a cradle.”
On the other hand, the last born were those young men and women who went to Loppiano for formation as focolarini (even 50 years ago) and who have consolidated their vocation or have subsequently chosen other vocations, never forgetting Loppiano and the experience of living the Gospel. For the past year, those present in Loppiano or scattered around the world have formed the association “Fellow citizens of Loppiano,” with the intention of contributing to the present and future of the little town. Alessandro Agostini is its coordinator, and, after a humorous greeting, he introduced Focolare President Margaret and Co-President Jesús with the award of honorary fellow citizens.
Yesterday’s Loppiano was brilliantly followed by today’s Loppiano, that of the newcomers. Thet introduced themselves with songs, sketches and nursery rhymes, the 12 girls and 13 boys from the Youth Project, the 9 young men and 12 young women participating in the Gen Schools, the 4 couples and 7 children from the Loreto School (in addition to a Mexican couple for the group of leaders), the 17 priests and 3 seminarians at Vivaio, a couple from Milan and Simon from Korea at the Visitation Centre. Departing, however, are seven focolarini and two focolarine for Focolares around the world, now that they have finished their formation period. Finally, Khader, a young man from Gaza, played the cello to accompany the singing of the small group of boys and girls from Palestine, Syria, Egypt and Iraq. The final applause expressed the audience’s deepy-felt appreciation.
