Catholic places of worship, convents and chapels become luxury hotels, pubs, location for events, gyms, or are sold to the best bidder as properties to live. Thus the crisis of spirituality of Italians comes to change the geography of religion.
In the Portello area, in Milan, there is a luxury hotel in the NH chain with rooms that cost almost two thousand euros per night. It could not be otherwise given that, as we read on the structure of the structure, from here you can enjoy “a breathtaking view of the Milan skyline”, make a dip “in the pool on the roof”, perhaps sipping “a cocktail at the bar with panoramic view”. Above all, you can live “a truly unique stay in an ancient church redesigned to combine the historical charm with modern luxury”. Yes: the church in question is that of Christ the king, built almost a century ago, consecrated in 1935 by the famous cardinal Alfredo Schuster and falling in disuse since the nineties. In short, a religious place transformed into a luxury hotel.
Exactly as happened in Naples, where a historic convent at the Vomero dedicated to San Francesco has recently become a high -end resort which organizes “private parties, fashion shows, exhibitions, presentations, photographic shooting, company meetings”. Not without controversy since a committee of citizens about a year ago, during the renovation, denounced how a statue depicting the patron of Italy had also ended up inside the garbage can.
In the historic center of the Campania capital, in Corso Vittorio Emanuele, there is another similar hotel. More precisely an art hotel resulting from the conversion of the left wing of the ancient convent of Santa Lucia al Monte. Some places in the building have been preserved, such as the Chapel of San Giovani Giuseppe della Croce and the refectory. “You can see fragments of frescoes, ancient majolica and decorations in every corner of the structure” reads the site. Next to all this, of course, there are the rooms: about 300 euros per night.
These are some examples of a trend – that of converting churches to luxury hotel and more – which over the years now seems to have become normal. In short, let’s get ready to see other hotels sprout. Or maybe pub, as always happened in Milan (needless to say, the place is called the church); in boxing gyms as happened at the Sanità district in Naples; or even in circus schools as soon as Bologna will happen in Bologna in the historic church, abandoned, of San Barbaziano.
The reason is simple: While only a few weeks ago we witnessed a human tide to give the last farewell to Pope Francis I and, a few days ago, to celebrate the intonation of Leo XIV, the truth is that around Italy the vocations are scarce and the dioceses attract less and less faithful. Just think that in 2013 436 new priests had been ordered, but after ten years the number dropped by 113 units: in 2023 the “new presbyters” were 323. In 1990 there were 38 thousand diocesan priests in Italy; 30 years later, in 2020, their number dropped to 31,800. In three decades, the priestly body therefore reduced by about 16 percent. And so, a truly paradoxical case, they end up being more parishes than priests, as in the diocese of Tortona (Alessandria), where there are 91 priests against 309 parishes and a population of 280 thousand inhabitants.
And it is not better with the nuns: one of the emblematic cases is that of Cristina ScucciaOrsolina nun for years and became a singer after participating in the television broadcast The Voice. But the now ex Sister Cristina is in good company: in 2020 there were 70 thousand religious in 2020, in 2022 they fell to 66 thousand.
“By now in the West we have a very materialistic vision of the person,” explains Father Alberto Carrara, Priest of the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ and Professor of Philosophy at the Pontifical University Regina Apostolarum. “In this way, rationalism also prevents more from asking spiritual questions, and thus of answering the call of God. As Pope Francis said: we are focused on looking at each other in the mirror, adopting Egolatria as lifestyle. In this way we lose sight of many important things, including the mission that each of us has in our own life. Meanwhile, the parishes are emptied, but my vision is positive: we are addressed to different, and more positive configurations ». Waiting for something to change, today to keep all the churches open it becomes – it is appropriate to say – a miracle that does not always succeed. Also because the expenses, of course, remain. And so it happens that the priests themselves are giving in religious places.
As happened in Tavernelle, province of Treviso, where Don Ezio Segat communicated that he had put a church of the parish for sale. “If he really had been affected towards this building, we would have seen him from the presences to the masses. That there are no, “Don Ezio complains today. The project that is looming on the horizon, according to what results in Panorama, is a new residential complex, a condominium with green spaces and parking lots.
The phenomenon, therefore, is this. Also because it is the numbers that make the management of churches and complex cathedrals: in Italy, according to latest estimates, there are over 100 thousand buildings of worship. Keeping them open, “live” and frequented everyone becomes an often impossible company. And so the result is that much of these are closed, they fall in abandonment, become prey to art thieves. Here too the numbers are the most eloquent: to date, 1,281,464 works of art circulating on the illegal market are 1,281,464. And many of these come from churches and places of worship now closed to the public. In other cases, however, the sacred buildings end up becoming victims of powerful building speculations, after they tightened the doors.
As happens in Naples, one of the cities with the highest number of abandoned churches. In the heart of Forcella, a stone’s throw from via del Duomo, there is that of Sant’Arcangelo in Baiano. The elderly who live in the “bass” nearby, still remember when the building was teeming with faithful: “Here I got married,” says a lady on seventy. “I baptized my children there,” he replies the opposite.
The fact is that today the Church is closed and the massacre of a building abuse of the most sensational of the city lives: Within what was once a monastery (which, however, has an incredible history behind them), dozens of families live, so much so that just above the rose windows, balconies have been made where today the clothes spread can be seen punctually. But there is no surprise. A few minutes away, here is the ancient church of San Biagio to taffettanari, in whose rectory for years it has abusively experienced a powerful Neapolitan criminal family.
In short, we might as well make for sale already abandoned properties that risk becoming it. On the other hand, it is enough to consult the main pages of real estate companies. On the Immobiliare.it portal there is the church, 82 square meters, of San Pietro in Cariano (province of Verona), with its “authentic architecture”, the rose window above the entrance door and the apse exposed. The price is on request.
On the same site is also available the former deconnected church with rectory and external area of Ponte dell’Olio (Piacenza): Here the negotiation is around 55 thousand euros, but the lot also has 860 square meters and has, inside, also access to the bell tower.
Again: in the heart of Castrocaro Terme there is a deconsecrated church of 100 square meters, “a place full of charm and history, ideal for those who want to transform it into an exclusive location for events, a creative study, a charming bistro or an artistic residence”, reads the announcement. Price: 28 thousand euros. Nothing compared to the 295 thousand euros requested for a former church of Sinalunga, in the province of Siena: “built in 1600 with the typical cross plant and stone facades”, the structure is constrained “by the superintendency”, but this “has already approved a project for conversion for residential use”. And of residential use, but also “commercial” and “industrial”, we also speak for another church, in Rapallo, on the Gulf of the Tigullio, complete with windows and dome. Value: 1.5 million euros.
Not to mention the capital. In Rome there is a “fascinating XII century church” dedicated, at the time, to the Saints Simone and Judah, which preserves fifteenth -century frescoes and which stands “one step away from Piazza Navona”. Intended use: commercial premises. Amen.
