Capodarco, this is how Don Franco made the words dignity and rights concrete
On May 27, 2025, at the age of 94, Don Franco Monterubbianesi, founder of the Capodarco Community , passed away . The epic stories of that Christmas in 1966 are now part of the history of transformation of our country. Don Franco's intuition, shared with other traveling companions, was able to transform the words "dignity" and "rights" into concrete action to conquer them.
It was an epochal transition, which was part of the birth of our Welfare State. The end of the 1960s represented a cultural watershed: rights were no longer experienced as external concessions, but as collective and individual responsibilities. The birth of the Capodarco Community, like other similar experiences, broke a deeply rooted pattern in society : that of charitable welfare. In its place, the revolutionary idea that living one's life to the full was a right was affirmed.
Don Franco's life was marked by a dream pursued with almost obsessive stubbornness, which became the daily priority of his commitment . He had the extraordinary ability to perceive what was not working in our society, and the incessant need to tell it, narrate it, spread it by every possible means.
He knew no tiredness, but he tested the patience of those around him, insisting, pressing, returning to the same point until exhaustion – of others, not his own.
He understood the urgency of a globalist view: those who take care of the last cannot ignore the injustices that cross every corner of the planet. He was among the first to link access to rights with the need to protect creation. In a period of his life, he was deeply inspired by the concept of Pachamama , which he inserted into every reflection as a key connection between social justice and environmental justice.
He was also among the first to intuit the potential of social agriculture as a tool for redemption, and tenaciously cultivated the dream of “after us” – or, as he said, “after us during us” – conceived as a concrete horizon to guarantee a future for people with disabilities and their families. His intuitions were visionary immersions, often premonitory of the times to come.
He was a visionary, yes, with a dose of that madness that characterizes those who have the courage to open new doors. A madness that was difficult to manage for those around him who reasoned according to more linear schemes, or who had to take on the economic and management difficulties that dreams placed in the wrong hands generated. But a necessary madness, capable of generating transformations . Sometimes it became an obsession, and could provoke anger, especially after the tenth phone call on the same subject.
Don Franco was not a saint, as he was perhaps described in a somewhat too hagiographic way in the days following his death. He was a man, with his flaws, but also with a strength and a vision that inspired and changed the lives of many. Two articles I read in recent days have deeply affected me and helped me understand the extent of the revolution he was able to implement. Two people with disabilities, in different ways, thanked him for giving them a second life. They are people who today represent an example of struggle and transformation, activists who fight to improve the living conditions of others.
The intuition of the Capodarco Community has allowed us to state, with seriousness and concreteness: it can be done . Yes, a person with a disability has the right to get married, to pursue their dreams, to create spaces for care, to take charge of the fragility of others. Frailties do not disappear, but they can be transformed into a resource. You do not heal from your condition, but that condition is no longer the center of life. Other opportunities open up, other skills develop, other intelligences are activated. With these new "glasses", I feel like saying that from that moment on the world has never been the same. Because the eyes with which we look at reality have changed, and the awareness that everyone has the right to transform their gaze on themselves.
Perhaps this is the greatest revolution: reaching out not to care, but to stand beside and say: "Your life can be different. It can be done. Look beyond, pretend to be something else." A personal note. I still have at least ten messages on Don Franco's answering machine. Thinking back, I realize that his constant need to launch intuitions, to continually shift the target, often clashed with my way of being. I got nervous many times, many more than I said thank you. Maybe it was a mistake.
For this, I want to thank Nunzia Coppedè of the Progetto Sud Community and Francesca Bondì of the Capodarco Community of Perugia. They are the ones who helped me today to truly understand the message and, above all, the concrete action that Don Franco was able to introduce.
From the theoretical visionary he was considered to be, he was in reality a practical revolutionary.
In the archive image at the Capodarco Day Centre a disabled person paints with a volunteer – photo by Marcotulli/Sintesi
You read this article freely, without being blocked after the first few lines. Did you like it? Did you find it interesting and useful? VITA's online articles are largely accessible for free. We want it to be this way forever, because information is everyone's right. And we can do it thanks to the support of those who subscribe.
Vita.it
