Home | Exhibition | Section 8

Origins and life

Don Antonio Boschi was born in Pieve a Nievole (Pistoia) on the 4th of February, 1897. Removed from the Diocese of Pisa for political reasons, in 1926 he was transferred to the Mugello valley where, after a brief stay in Firenzuola, he served as priest in San Piero a Sieve until 1948. His successor was Don Novello Chellini.

The years of renovations

After he was assigned to the Parish church (Pieve di San Pietro), at the beginning of 1931, he immediately took the situation in hand. He thought it was a disaster, and for a first period he couldn’t even live in the rectory. With much help, in a short time he started the renovation of sacred objects and properties, also paying off the numerous debts that were left by his predecessors.

A religious life 

Don Boschi managed to open the Parish buildings to the citizens, organising many meetings in which he or other priests participated. He organised recreation spaces for boys and girls, with the collaboration of the nuns of Frilli Kindergarten, and also processions and annual pilgrimages.

The regime and the war

He continued his job during the fascist regime, focusing mainly on faith and social justice. He was a man of culture and moral rigour, and during the war he condemned the “bristly Germans”, as well as the “Anglo-assassins”. 

Always on the side of the people

In the critical months of the conflict, he never left the Parish, spending the nights in the basement. In the daytime, he visited the displaced families, comforting them. He was involved in social and civil matters of the Municipality, and in 1944 he was a non-political member of Vieri Bencini’s Municipality board.

The reconstruction

After the war, on the 5th of October, 1945, the church was reopened to religious functions, and on the 27th of October 1946 (Feast of Christ the King) the renovated Medici’s hall and adjacent rooms were opened for catechism and the Catholic Action. He never got tired, and lived his mission as a work to honour for everyone’s benefit. He died in Florence on the 6th of October, 1983.