====== Don Lorenzo Milani ======

Lorenzo Carlo Domenico Milani Comparetti (27 May 1923 – 26 June 1967) was an Italian Catholic priest. He was an educator of poor children and an advocate of conscientious objection.
Biography

Milani was born in Florence in 1923 to a rich middle-class family.[1] His father, Albano Milani, and his mother, Alice Weiss, were staunch secularists. Alice Weiss was Jewish and a cousin of Edoardo Weiss, one of Sigmund Freud's earliest disciples and the founder of the Italian Psychoanalytic Association. Milani's paternal great-grandfather was Domenico Comparetti, a leading nineteenth-century philologist. In his own work as an educationist, Milani emphasized learning how to use words effectively.[2]

In June 1943, after a period of study at the Brera Academy, Milani converted from agnosticism to Catholicism, perhaps after a chance conversation with Don Raffaele Bensi, who later became his spiritual director. He also exchanged a complacency of the economically fortunate for solidarity with the poor and despised. He was ordained a priest in 1947 and sent to assist Don Daniele Pugi, the old parish priest of San Donato in Calenzano. There he established his first school of the people (scuola popolare),[3] The fact that it served children from both believing and non-believing families scandalized conservative Catholic circles. After Pugi's death in 1954, Milani was sent to Barbiana, a small, remote village in the Mugello region.[2]

At Barbiana, Milani continued his radical educational activities despite both clerical and lay opposition. 

===== The Barbiana school =====

The Barbiana School, located in the village of Barbiana within the municipality of Vicchio, Florence, embodied inclusivity and democracy. It aimed not to select, but to provide a personalized education to ensure all students reached a minimum level of learning, thereby promoting equality and eliminating differences stemming from personal history, socioeconomic status, and background (a highly constitutional approach).

Don Milani's work at Barbiana was not that of an isolated, naive priest hastily creating a rural school. He built upon the contributions of numerous modern pedagogues and educators. While the school may seem all-encompassing in today's context, it must be understood in the context of an absolute educational void, especially for his initial students, who were otherwise engulfed in the demanding labor of fields and forests. The school offered a stark contrast to this environment, as indicated by a student's famous remark: "School is always better than crap!"

The Barbiana School not only provided a full-time education, but it was exceptionally immersive, both in terms of its schedule and curriculum. Its inclusive and participatory methodology, focused on individual care encapsulated in the famous phrase "I care," set it apart.

The curriculum was not predetermined by an abstract and pre-packaged program, but rather emerged from the students' work and their need to comprehend new issues. This included reading newspapers to identify starting points for potential learning journeys, leading to a geographical, historical, and social approach to the entire teaching-learning process. The emphasis was on concreteness for facts and, alongside experience, the acknowledgment of "theories" for explanation. Depth of understanding was not a secondary or optional choice, but an essential component for comprehension.

In many ways, this approach echoes the research practiced in the best full-time programs, guided by pedagogues like De Bartolomeis. It also resonates with the emerging emphasis on "environmental research" in Italy during those years, thanks to the Educational Cooperation Movement (MCE).

At Barbiana, there was a place for everyone, each had their role (not in the sense of a desk). Don Milani approached the students not with a singular method, but with a consideration for the unique qualities of each individual. The focus was on acquiring the responsibility of seeing through the eyes of others.

Every student was encouraged to find a "higher" purpose for the knowledge gained, to make their voice heard collectively. Don Milani's "I care" stood in stark contrast to the fascist "Me ne frego" ("I don't care"). It extended to each and every student, their community, and the entire world.

===== Writings =====

In the spring of 1958, he released his initial work, "Pastoral Experiences" (Esperienze pastorali). Later that year, the Holy Office ordered its removal from circulation, deeming it "untimely," despite finding no doctrinal errors or breaches of ecclesiastical discipline within it. Milani did not publicly contest this decision.

In his "Letter to Military Chaplains" ("Lettera ai cappellani militari") and a subsequent communication to judges, he advocated for conscientious objection and the right to assert a resolute "No." His writings on this matter are acknowledged as significant contributions to the anti-military education discourse. In 1965, Milani faced legal proceedings due to these writings.

Collaborating with his students for a year, Milani orchestrated the creation of "Letter to a Teacher" (Lettera a una professoressa), critiquing the inequities of a class-based educational system that favored the offspring of the affluent over those of modest means. This composition was crafted by eight boys from the Barbiana school, employing the "group writing" technique influenced by the cooperative writing method advocated by Mario Lodi and inspired by Celesine Freinet. Lodi visited Barbiana, fostering an exchange of ideas between his students and those at Barbiana. This text has been translated into nearly forty languages, introducing many of the themes that later played a prominent role in the Sociology of Education's evolution. It served as a manifesto for the 68 movement, casting a critical eye not only on the Italian education system, but on Italian society as a whole.

===== Death and legacy =====

In 1967, shortly after the release of "Letter to a Teacher," Milani passed away from leukemia at his mother's residence in Florence.

In 2008, Helena Dalli, a Member of Parliament and member of the Malta Labour Party, provided an overview of Milani's life and contributions: "Milani's ideas were deemed provocatively progressive, leading his bishop to relocate him to a secluded mountain village north of Florence known as Barbiana, believed to be too distant for him to stir up trouble. There, he established a comprehensive school for children who had been let down or abandoned by the conventional educational system. Over time, his teaching methods drew hundreds of students of all ages. He brought in artists, farmers, scientists, craftsmen, and professionals to offer hands-on insights into their fields. Additionally, students were encouraged to read and critically assess both national and international news. The objective was to equip them with the skills to scrutinize events with discernment, enabling them to confront life without trepidation and to tackle challenges with resolve and awareness."

A documentary produced by RAI delves into Lorenzo Milani's educational initiative and its influence on Italian society. The film features interviews with former students from the Barbiana school and other individuals. (An English version of the film is available).

On June 20, 2017, Pope Francis paid a visit to Barbiana to offer his respects and prayers at Milani's resting place.