The School of Arts and Crafts of the Fabric of Saint Peter

Written and read by Assunta di Sante

The School of Arts and Crafts of the Fabric of Saint Peter in the Vatican was conceived and structured to restore vitality and authority to the craft tradition, which is not only a precious heritage of the past but also an asset for present society to offer to future times.

Its history is part of an ancient tradition, dating back to the end of the eighteenth century. Supported by a popular school of a professional nature for the training of master builders for architecture, in the late eighteenth century the Fabric of Saint Peter established the Pontifical Studio of Arts for the training of aspiring builders and craftsmen in general. The Studio was free of charge, open on feast days and afternoons. For the Fabric, it was an act of love and responsibility, and also responded to the real need to provide adequate training for new generations of craftsmen to be employed in the Vatican Basilica.

Today, 250 years later, the Fabric of Saint Peter, in collaboration with the Fratelli Tutti Foundation, has decided to once again promote the transmission of practical skills and know-how, with aims similar to those that had guided it in founding the Pontifical Studio: in the essential adaptation to the needs of the contemporary world, the Fabric of Saint Peter, through the School, intends to support and transmit the heritage of knowledge and skills acquired and handed down by so many generations of craftsmen of Saint Peter’s.

The School is free of charge, and knowledge is transmitted to young aspiring artisans by the best master craftsmen of the Basilica. Therefore, the courses that have been launched are essentially those regarding the most historically-relevant tasks in the Fabric, and which correspond largely also to the craft activities still in demand in contemporary construction.

The training courses aim at the professional and human growth of the young craftsmen, and the development of manual skills, alongside art-historical learning, knowledge of the materials used, and the acquisition of technical and technological proficiency.

Teaching activities include cycles of lectures, seminars, guided tours and study visits to various locations in Italy. The theoretical lessons are held in Vatican City State, in the classrooms specifically set up in the premises of the Palazzo della Canonica, and the workshop activities are carried out in the workshops of the Fabric of Saint Peter. Through this form of active apprenticeship and generational transmission of knowledge, students are able to immerse themselves in the life of the Vatican Basilica and get to know its spirituality, places, people and organization.

Participation in the School also offers the opportunity to construct an educating community, formed in a spirit of fraternity and with a view to integral human growth, as an alternative to the solitude of knowledge and increasing professional individualism.