The School of Arts and Crafts of the Fabbrica di San Pietro

Written and read by Assunta di Sante

The School of Arts and Crafts of the Fabbrica di San Pietro in Vaticano 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 Fabbrica di San Pietro 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 Fabbrica, 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 Fabbrica di San Pietro, 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 Fabbrica, 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 Fabbrica di San Pietro. 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.

EDUCATIONAL PROJECT – 4th Edition

The School offers five courses: Stonemasons and marble workers; Bricklayers, Plasterers and decorators; Carpenters; Blacksmiths and Mosaicists

• The School is free of charge

• For the entire duration of the courses, the School provides flats free of charge in which the students will live together. The community dimension is indeed the added value of the experience

• Students will have lunch free of charge at the Vatican Canteen

• Classes will be held on the premises of the Fabric of Saint Peter inside Vatican City

• The courses will last about six months, from October 2025, with compulsory attendance. There will be 600 hours of lessons, of which 200 will be dedicated to basic and specialised teaching and extracurricular activities, while 400 to laboratory practice

• Students must guarantee attendance of at least 75% of the hours set out in the teaching plan

• The School is reserved for 20 young people (female and male) between the ages of 18 and 25 that have obtained an artistic school-leaving certificate, a technical institute diploma (for the CAT courses), a professional institute diploma (for the Maintenance courses), an IeFP professional diploma (for the diploma for Woodworking Technician and Artistic Workmanship Technician), or a foreign qualification equivalent to the Italian one. University students who meet the requirements are also admitted

• Italian and foreign students may attend the School, provided they have a B2 level knowledge of Italian.

• To be admitted, candidates must pass a selection to verify their logical/aptitude skills and assess their motivation.

• The School will issue a Certificate of Acquired Skills upon passing a final exam

Apply now!