Translation Project

By Mimma Verducci

Translated from Italian to English by Jodelle Marx

LA PIEVE DI SAN CRESCI A MONTEFIORALLE

The Pieve di San Cresci, originally named Pieve di San Cresci Montefioralle is located in the Municipality of Greve in Chianti. The pieve is dedicated to the martyr Acrisio, commonly called Cresci, one of the most important Tuscan evangelists.

The San Cresci complex includes a pieve, courtyard, house, and cellars. It is positioned near the intersection of two ancient roads: the first, connecting the Valdelsa and the Valdarno; the second, a road that runs along the Greve-Pesa ridge. Mentioned in 963 in the Papers of the Abbey of Passignano, it was patronized by the Gherardini family, the Del Caccia family, and then the Venturi family.

The Pieve di San Cresci dates back to the 10th century, but the external style of the building is Romanesque from the 13th century. In the 16th century, a cloister was added with a rounded arch and two mullioned windows.

The facade is lively with white stones from Alberese and red terracotta bricks that frame the entrances and windows. Its striking exterior makes it unique among Romanesque architecture in Tuscany. Final additions were completed in the 19th century.

FROM COLLAPSE TO RECOVERY

In 1967 the parish roof collapsed due to lightning

In 1967, Don Giuseppe Cellai, the then Parish Priest of San Cresci, recorded the calamitous event that led to the degradation of Pieve di San Cresci:

Around 8 o'clock a painful event occurred, certainly unexpected: a transverse beam of the roof of the church broke, the roof fell, shattering the marble floor. . . The day after the disaster I sent a registered letter to the Mayor of the Municipality of Greve; to the Administrative Office of Fiesole; to the Civil Engineers of Florence; and to the Superintendence of Monuments of Florence. No proposal for reconstruction has been sent.

Many days passed and finally the commission came to inspect the damage and prepare a plan. They affirmed their general desire to contribute to the costs of repair, but concluded that their funds are exhausted.

In 1977 Arch. Piero Roselli made another report: "The roof and annexes of the church require immediate restoration to prevent easily predictable collapse".

In 1983, in the publication For the restoration of the Pieve di San Cresci in Montefioralle, Mayor Alberto Bencistà wrote, "There is no time for further delay of restoration work . . ."

A committee set to work raising public awareness in order to promote and safeguard Pieve di San Cresci, thus enhancing Tuscan architectural heritage. For Italians, saving historical sites is in our DNA, but lack of funds, ignorance, poor choices, or purely commercial visions, lead to the loss of culture and history.

In 1991, a young couple named Duccio Trassinelli and Demetria (Mimma) Verduci wanted to move from Florence to the countryside. Duccio was a famed designer and professor of Methodology of Design at I.S.I.A. Mimma was a former Architecture student and successful business woman.

When the couple met in 1985, Mimma joined Duccio’s company, which specialized in building design and restoration. They were well known in the region for their work with the Municipality of Florence, Tuscan Milk Company, and Fidi Toscana SpA.

Through a friend in the Red Cross, they met Monsignor Giuseppe Saccardi. “I have a house for you,” Saccardi told them. He knew that Mimma and Duccio had the experience necessary for managing the restoration of the Pieve di San Cresci complex.

On September 1, 1991, work began on the pieve and rectory under Duccio’s supervision. The Diocese of Fiesole Bursar, owner of Pieve di San Cresci, assigned the restoration to Duccio and his team.

The spoken agreement was that in exchange for Mimma and Duccio’s work on the Pieve di San Cresci complex, they would be allowed to live in the rectory for the rest of their lives. No deed was exchanged. No formal agreement written.

Young and naive, the couple were not deterred by the sorry state of San Cresci or the verbal business agreement. Rather, they were eager to begin restoring the Tuscan relic.

The San Cresci complex was like a mammoth breathing her last breath. The church roof collapsed 24 years prior and continuous rainwater berated the interior. The house was without drinking water, gas, and heating. The electrical system was unsafe and the toilet drained into a hole in the ground. Filthy water dripping from the roof collected in buckets. With split beams and sagging shutters, this mammoth was slouched in her deathbed.

The churchyard was no better. A junkyard for rusted out cars and brambles suffocating the old vegetable garden, this was not a welcoming place. The stone walls were collapsing and wooden planks, held together by rusty nails, served as benches for unlikely tourists. The property was a disaster, but the historical significance and view of the valley below spoke to Mimma and Duccio’s souls.

The Diocese put the couple in charge of the bureaucracy–no small task, considering that every change had to be approved by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage. They mediated conflicts between the Municipality of Greve in Chianti and officials in Florence; coordinated construction companies and restoration experts; and worked under-paying jobs in order to afford the restorations.

Every day, every week, every month was dedicated to bringing a piece of the San Cresci complex back to life.

Driven by the knowledge that they were protecting San Cresci, doing it good, and saving it, Mimma and Duccio paid attention to every detail that survived the weather and the indifference of past tenants. Piece by piece, they transformed this lonely country place, which had been neglected for decades into a welcoming community space.

San Cresci is a common good shared by the community.

The first task was restoring the main floor of the house. When Mimma and Duccio finished the living area, they had a roof over their heads and water flowing from the taps. With a safe place to live, they turned their attention to the pieve and urged the Diocese to let them begin the second phase of restoration.

The only work that had been done on the pieve since the roof collapsed in 1967, was a temporary roof, which now allowed rain to penetrate the foundation. While Mimma and Duccio paid out of pocket to fix the living area, the Diocese was responsible for funding restoration of the pieve.

Finally Monsignor Pierantonio Carrara, Procurator General of the Diocese of Fiesole, came up with the funding to pay for materials, but not Mimma and Duccio’s labor. As with the Rectory, the Diocese put Mimma and Duccio in charge of coordinating the restoration of the pieve.

Restoring a 10th century pieve is complicated. Discovering treasures lost in time made the sleepless nights worthwhile.

Imagine the tears of joy upon uncovering a fresco from the 17th century in the church sanctuary. The relic had been walled up, hidden under plaster for perhaps centuries.

Professor Stefano Garosi and his students at the School of Restoration of the Province of Florence, worked for months to restore the frescoes. As they progressed, the team found frescoes of the twelve apostles. Their colors and brushstrokes worn by time, but their presence was holy.

The previous electrician who wired the church made the electrical system at the height of the apostles’ shoulders, in effect decapitating each painted figure. Garosi and his students labored with ladders and paint brushes until the walls breathed with life.

Mimma and Duccio experienced the awakening of this place in a visceral way, with the anxiety and love of expecting a child.

With the direction of the Diocese and supervision of the Superintendence of Architectural Heritage, Mimma and Duccio spent six years coordinating the restoration of Pieve di San Cresci. This endeavor required competence and time for which they never received compensation.

In 1997, the restoration of the pieve was completed. After a thousand years, the pieve was reborn and the Diocese of Fiesole had a restored asset. The Diocese was grateful to Mimma and Duccio.

Again, the Diocese promised that Mimma and Duccio’s dedication to the restoration and maintenance of the Pieve di San Cresci ensured that they could live at San Cresci until the end of their days. The couple were content with this agreement, glad to see the historical building saved.

Don Solaro Bucci, the then parish priest responsible for Pieve di San Cresci, named Mimma and Duccio as guardians of the church. He directed them to live at San Cresci in order to care for it. Bucci was happy to see San Cresci become an active church again and performed baptisms, weddings, and funerals there.

The pieve was restored with partial contribution of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, meaning that it must be open to the public. As per the instructions of the Ministry and the Diocese, Mimma and Duccio welcomed visits from tourists and hiking guides; they cleaned and cared for the pieve; and supervised concerts organized by the Municipality of Greve.

Given its good experience in the restoration of San Cresci, the Diocese assigned Duccio’s business other work: restoring and negotiating rents of other church assets in the district. The pay was well below Duccio’s skill level, but he was grateful to the Diocese for the opportunity to live at San Cresci.

When Mimma and Duccio arrived at San Cresci in 1991, everything was in shambles. Fixing the living area and pieve were prioritized, but in 2003 the discovery of structural issues in the cellars demanded immediate action.

If the cellars were not restored, the entire rectory would collapse and all of their work would be lost.

They asked the Diocese for permission to restore the cellars. By this time, the couple had a trusted relationship with the Diocese. Monsignor Carrara, a member of the Diocese, had for years shared Mimma and Duccio’s enthusiasm and offered his rationality and wisdom. He recognized the significance of finding a couple willing to devote work, time, and money to the maintenance of an asset of the Church and he gladly granted them approval to restore the cellars.

The cellars were Dante’s hell. Centuries-old disuse left black walls peeling with tannin; square meters of woven cobwebs; dirt floors; and doors debased of their function and stacked one on top of the other. It was ghostly. Bats hovered overhead and monstrous creatures emerged from crevices in the walls. Already, someone over the centuries had used spurs and holding chains on the East wall, visible from the municipal street.

Somehow Mimma and Duccio saw through the horror movie setting, to an idyllic home.

From the large door overlooking the street, the view of the small medieval village of Montefioralle was a skin tingling spectacle. On certain mornings, the fog enveloped the hills and the profile of Montefioralle castle loomed as if suspended in midair.

At this point, Mimma and Duccio had dedicated a decade to the house and they were out of money. Duccio's mother died and her apartment in Florence was sold. Instead of purchasing an already restored terraced house in the countryside, they paid for the restoration of the Cellars. The Ministry for Cultural Heritage contributed € 30,000 to the cellar project and once again, Mimma and Duccio oversaw the construction companies and managed the bureaucracy.

The couple fell in love with the cellars in the same way that they had with the rest of the San Cresci rectory. The space was so fascinating that they had to make it visible to others and open it to the world. They wanted to show what humans are capable of when we create, work, and welcome.

The restored cellars would be dedicated to art and culture. This objective was widely approved by the Diocese, who was in favor of Mimma and Duccio maintaining the property and using the facilities to benefit the community.

At the end of the restoration of the cellars, Mimma and Duccio organized the first of many cultural events to be hosted at San Cresci. The conference was titled "The enhancement of architectural heritage and its use: potential of historical places as a cultural development of the territory". The Officials who they had collaborated with throughout the restoration of San Cresci gave speeches praising Mimma and Duccio and for their work. Among them were: the Superintendence of Florence Architect Vincenzo Vaccaro; Architect Laura Baldini; Dr. Roberta Passalacqua; Dr. Alessandro Cecchi; Didactic Coordinator of the Painting Restoration Course of the Province of Florence, Professor Stefano Garosi; Director of the restoration internship, and the Procurator General of the Diocese, Monsignor Carrara.

Cultural Center and Artist Residency

In 2004, the cultural association "La Macina di San Cresci" was born.

Today La Macina di San Cresci is internationally recognized for its cultural initiatives and artistic collaborations with public and private organizations, Italian and foreign universities.

The Diocese approved and encouraged the use of San Cresci as an artistic-cultural center. In fact, when Mimma and Duccio asked to use the upper floor of the Rectory for housing resident artists, the Diocese granted it and offered use of the pieve for exhibitions and cultural events.

Mimma and Duccio spent the first fifteen years completing restorations of the complex and the next fifteen years building an international community for artists.

These thirty years at San Cresci shaped their relationship as a couple and as citizens of the community. Every brick, every nail, every hinge rebuilt not only a structure, but the link between the land, the church, and the people who lived there. When Mimma and Duccio opened the restored pieve to the public, they shared the spirit of San Cresci with the world.

Reviving a historic place, neglected for so long and bringing it to life with creativity and interculturality, was undoubtedly a noble goal, and the Curia was grateful to Mimma and Duccio, as, even recently, the Bishop Emeritus Luciano Giovannetti expressed to them.

Once the restorations were complete, the rectory where artists would live and the cellars required more major renovations, which Mimma and Duccio paid for at their own expense. The couple invested their savings, trusting in the repeated promises of the Diocese that they could live at San Cresci for the rest of their lives and use the complex as a cultural center and artist residency. The promises were mentioned in a letter sent in 2009 by the Bursar Mons. Carrara to Alberto Bencistà, Mayor of Greve discussing the will of the Diocese.

In his letter to the Mayor of Greve, Bursar Mons. Carrara said:

In those years the Diocese rented the adjacent rectory to a family, Mimma* and Duccio Trassinelli, who with their inventiveness and wisdom have created–after having also restored the cellars below–the cultural association La Macina di San Cresci which organizes various events. Currently part of the rectory is used as a "residence for artists" who come from all over the world to be inspired in their creativity by the beauties of the area and the particular place that is San Cresci.

The Diocese has favored such initiatives, even if not purely pastoral, but has realized that it cannot directly manage this property and has come in the determination to alienate the complex but exclusively to a Foundation or a Public Body that can maintain and encourage the activities that take place in them. Therefore, if there is to be alienation, any request from private individuals who intend to distort the complex and destroy the current destination will be excluded.

(*Mimma is the family diminutive of Demetria; its use is indicative of the rapport established between the Diocese and the couple)

Famed writer, Gianfranco Sanguinetti, lived at San Cresci in the 70s, before Mimma and Duccio arrived. Upon seeing the restorations years later, Sanguinetti wrote:

Everything had remained as it was, perfectly and philologically restored, not rebuilt. As in a photograph, time had stopped as a sign of respect for these august places. . . One might have feared that such a noble ancient building had entered a vulgar circuit, like Relais & Châteaux to welcome people who have nothing but money to spend. What a surprise, instead, to see it even more beautiful than it was!

The mutual trust and respect between the Diocese and Mimma and Duccio, allowed the couple to operate in peace without worry that they were being taken advantage of. The work, the money spent, the professional commitment, were only the practical side that allowed the recovery of San Cresci. The driving force was Mimma and Duccio’s desire to restore dignity in appearance and function to a place so beautiful, so historic, so harmonious.

Later, Mimma and Duccio would learn that not requesting a deed or a written agreement ensuring their right to live out their days at San Cresci was naive. First though, they would spend many years cultivating an international arts and culture community at San Cresci.

THE ARTIST RESIDENCY

In 2008 the residency for artists was born and a dream was realized. The residency is named for the macina, or millstone, in the cellars of the rectory. La Macina di San Cresci facilitates a community for artists to live and create together, exchanging ideas and perspectives. On a large scale, the artist residency responds to a continental push for improving the mobility of artists and other cultural professionals in order to foster intercultural dialogue that contributes to cooperation between countries.

La Macina is a laboratory where current research in the visual arts and critical fields converge and develop. Art professionals and the public interact at exhibitions and social events, unearthing new insights about culture and art.

Mimma and Duccio were proud to restore the complex as an art-culture center, therefore saving it from being turned into an airbnb and the history of one of the oldest pieves in Tuscany going unknown.

La Macina di San Cresci hosts artists of various nationalities, cultures, and social spheres, emerging and professional, young and old. During their time in residence, artists get to explore the Tuscan countryside, develop a personal project, learn from one another, and collaborate.

The community of Greve benefits from the cultural exchange of artists and professionals visiting La Macina di San Cresci: stories are exchanged from across the world, friendships are formed, and perspectives broadened. Mimma and Duccio also organize and host regional events such as art exhibitions and contests. All are Diocese approved and support new or well-known artists.

Each residency concludes with an Open Studio, where creators share their work with an audience of other artists and local community members. They receive feedback–oftentimes testing the waters with new materials or techniques–and generate a socially aware and engaged public. La Macina then publishes a volume of The Artistic Time, a yearly archive of each sojourning artist and their art.

As an artist packs their suitcase to leave, Mimma asks for one last piece of art: a contribution to the guest books. The Artist’s Books began in 2008 with the first guest of the residency. Since then, nearly four sketchbooks have been filled with handwritten notes of gratitude, sketches, drawings, photographs, and collages.

In the past, La Macina has offered scholarships enabling artists to afford travel and daily expenses. The scholarships are funded through public donations, as well as contributions from Mimma and Duccio’s savings.

A scholarship allowed the Bulgarian artist, Velislava Gecheva, to devote time to painting at La Macina and exhibit her work in Florence.

Ukrainian filmmaker Alina Gorlova, selected for the Slow Movie Contest, was hosted in the residence while working on her short film, “Mochao.” Gorlova subsequently presented her film at the Odeon Cinema during the 50 Days of International Cinema in Florence.

In 2010 Mimma and Duccio organized Tarsie rinascimentali a quattro mani (“Four-Handed Renaissance Inlays”), an exhibition by the prestigious designers, Ettore Sottsass and Andrea Fedeli. The pair combine modern design with traditional artistic concepts to design furniture that carries cultural practices into everyday life. The exhibition presented at La Macina di San Cresci was then revived in Paris by the Galerie Yves Gastou at the Chapel of the Academy of BelleArti.

In 2013, Mimma and Duccio began developing the Slow Road. The couple partnered with local organizations and the University of Florence to install seats along the common path connecting Greve, Montefioralle, and local artists’ studios. Now the sitting areas–made of traditional terracotta–encourage people to slow down and engage with their surroundings.

While working on the Slow Road project, Mimma and Duccio helped organize the 2013 World Slow Art Day. At their invitation, Marcello Guasti worked for months to create the sculpture Cipresso e la Cipressa ("The Cypress Tree and the Cypress"). On the day of the inauguration, cypress wood burned in a stove in the exhibition hall, adding to the slow magic.

In 2016, La Macina organized an exhibition for the local artist, Silvano Porcinai. Titled, “The 99 Turtles of Florence” Silvano memorialized the 99 abandoned pet turtles rescued from a fountain in Florence. Silvano’s turtles were made of terracotta, each unique figure molded by hand. Silvano was unlike other artists, who kept in close contact with Mimma and Duccio.

In the months leading up to the exhibition, he would arrive out of the blue saying, “Here are 34 [terracotta turtles]! Now I have to go.” Another time, Silvano explained, “I've been in Spain; I wanted to buy a horse. Here are 25 more turtles." With little time to spare, Silvano completed all 99 figures for the exhibition: a limited series, all handmade, of different sizes.

In September of 2019, the illustrious Canadian artist, Francoise Sullivan traveled from Montreal to exhibit Opere dall’Italia (“Works from Italy”) in collaboration with La Macina. The exhibition was curated by Galerie Uquam in Montreal and shipped to Italy. Painter, performer, choreographer, dancer, and sculptor, Sullivan has been called a “monumental artist of Canada” by the historical curator, Louise Dery.

Sullivan lived at San Cresci in the 70s, along with Guy Debord, Alice Becker and Gianfranco Sanguinetti. At 96 years old, Sullivan walked from room to room of the San Cresci rectory, enamored by the restoration that Mimma and Duccio led.

Showing no signs of jet lag, Sullivan settled into an armchair and answered questions for a journalist. When asked about her future projects, she rattled off a long list of works in progress. Sullivan has never been an idle woman.

In 1948 she, along with fifteen other intellectuals and artists, published the "Refus Global" manifesto, which questioned traditional values and rejected the immobility of the Quebec society of the time. The document aroused a tremendous reaction in the ruling class, which forced some of the signatories into exile.

Hosting Sullivan and hearing her memories of San Cresci was a treat. She walked the property, pointing out artifacts of the 70s. An old iron jug and tripod that had been used as sinks in the house during her time, were now set in the yard with flowers. Sullivan recognized them: “This was not here, it was in the bedroom!”

Over the years, the cultural association La Macina di San Cresci has conceived and developed projects for the enhancement of the territory in collaboration with: the Tuscany Region, the Province of Florence, the University of Florence and above all the Municipality of Greve.

With a restored organ in the pieve, the couple also host concerts in partnership with the Municipality of Greve; Priest Don Solaro Bucci; the Music School of Fiesole; and the Studium Research Center Faesulanum of Vienna.

Restored, the pieve di San Cresci is a jewel of Greve in Chianti. Scholars and tourists are drawn to Greve in order to see the landmark pieve. Mimma and Duccio give tours of San Cresci to anyone who knocks on their door.

Projects for the enhancement of the territory in collaboration with the Institutions: the Tuscany Region, the Province of Florence, the University of Florence, the Fondazione Sistema Toscana, and the Municipality of Greve

SAVING CULTURAL HERITAGE SITES

During 2018, the European year of cultural heritage, a conference was held in Rome to discuss the decommissioning of churches and the integrated management of cultural heritage. Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Office of Culture, wrote in the introductory letter of the guidelines that assets of the church may be sold and used for social, cultural, and charitable purposes, but not commercial.

After reading the proceedings of the conference, Mimma and Duccio sent Cardinal Ravasi a copy of their book San Cresci a Montefioralle: from ruin to an international artistic center. They suggested the rebirth of Pieve di San Cresci as an example of how to reuse an ecclesiastical property.

Cardinal Ravasi wrote back that the book had been added to the Vatican Library of the Dicastery, as "testimony of long, constant and qualified artistic research".

Already in 1848 Ruskin J. wrote in “The Seven Lamps of Architecture”, to:

take careful care of your monuments and you will not need to restore them. A few lead plates placed on a roof in due time, a few dry leaves and brushwood swept away in time by a shower of water, will save both the ceiling and the walls from Ruin. Watch an old building with thoughtful attention; protect it as best you can and at any cost, from any hint of deterioration [...] And all this, do it lovingly, with reverence and continuity and more than a generation will still know and die in the shadow of that building.

Through 17 years of dedication to the San Cresci complex, Mimma and Duccio have carried out extraordinary restorations because their predecessors had not invested in maintenance.

In our beautiful Italy, rich in an indisputable, loved and desired artistic heritage, however, looking at the abandoned, collapsed, ruined assets, the Criminal Code seems to be disregarded or not known.

Franco Milella, in an article in "Il Giornale dell'Arte" (n.395, March 2019) writes that:

Of the more than 110,000 architectural and cultural heritage sites listed in the 2012 Risk Chart, over 60% are in a state of neglect, degradation, [and] inaccessibility. Even 76% of public real estate managed by the State and local authorities are damaged in some way.

Imagine how many of those assets are historical churches like Pieve di San Cresci.

Cultural heritage sites are decaying despite the Constitutional Court of Italy judges determining that "the crime of damage to cultural heritage can include the failure to carry out maintenance, conservation and restoration works of things of historical and artistic interest." Article 733 of the Criminal Code, defines damage as the result of single events or unaddressed long term deterioration due to vandalism, insects, weather, and air pollution.

An unused ecclesiastical property continues to be managed by the entity that owns it. Contrary to current public belief, the Italian ecclesiastical properties are not owned by the Vatican, but belong to one of the 29,932 ecclesiastical entities civilly recognized by the Italian state (data as of 31 December, 2015 provided by the Ministry of the Interior, Central Directorate of Affairs of cults).

The number of ecclesiastical institutions is equal to 3 times the number of Italian public entities (excluding schools and ASL) and all 29,932 can own assets for the church. With the vast number of owners there is no complete census documenting the breadth or condition of the Italian Church real estate assets (Francesca Giani, 1 July 2019 from Vita online magazine).

The Italian Bishops' Conference managed to start a census in 2013, but the data are constantly evolving. Recently the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), provides a series of interventions aimed at the protection and enhancement of cultural heritage. It works with the allocation of sums for specific areas, for example the Great Pompeii project, the Unesco sites, and villages (21 selected). In 2014 the state launched the Art Bonus project for cultural patronage.

While well intentioned, these initiatives are not enough. In Naples alone there are about 200 abandoned, vandalized and continually looted churches. And the small, rural, or mountain churches? Non-existent.

Tomaso Montanari writes in his book, Closed Churches, that, “the ancient Italian churches should be open, available for visitors, and always free of charge".

Mimma and Duccio have done just that: over 30 years, they transformed San Cresci from a derelict loss of heritage to a cultural sanctuary available to anyone wishing to enter, no matter religious affiliation.

In the Middle Ages, the parish priest served approximately 300 people in the area, while offering a resting place for travelers making the holy pilgrimage from Siena to Florence. As an artist residency and cultural center, La Macina di San Cresci continues the tradition of taking people in–now artists from all over the world.

THE FUTURE OF SAN CRESCI

In the last 10 years, in Italy, there has been a proliferation of multifunctional spaces: cultural centers, incubators, coworking facilities, literary cafes, galleries, and meeting spaces. Thousands of projects have been created to facilitate culture in ways and places that are radically different from those we are used to.

Unconventional projects and places are as diverse as: tunnels converted into theater studios; former prisons transformed into places for poetry readings; and artist residencies in remote villages. Each place is a fertile ground for the germination of relationships, cultural exchanges, creative processes, and artistic development.

La Macina di San Cresci is one of these places. As artists create, they mingle with culture, traditions, and daily life. Visiting artists become immersed in the community where they are living. Diversity thrives from sharing perspectives and learning about one another’s ways of life.

While so many cultural sites are growing and thriving, La Macina di San Cresci is under threat of closure by the Parish Priest of Greve in Chianti who took office in 2014.

Beginning in 2020 in the midst of a pandemic torn world, the priest initiated a legal battle to evict Mimma and Duccio and close the artist residency. After 30 years of leading the restoration of the Pieve di San Cresci complex, a promise was broken. Mimma and Duccio, 77 and 63 respectively, were met with an eviction letter from the priest. The couple were baffled. They invested over €260k on the cellar restoration alone, without compensation–they do not have anywhere else to go.

In 2021, Mimma and Duccio negotiated to stay in the house until Duccio’s passing, which disregards Mimma’s right to live at San Cresci. By 2026, they are supposed to vacate the artist apartments (the second floor of the house) and the studios in the restored cellars. As of 2022, the legal negotiations to save the arts-cultural center at San Cresci are ongoing.

Over the years, Mimma and Duccio have been called the "Angels of San Cresci” for saving the 948 AD pieve.

The Catholic Church has always had a special relationship with the artists who design and decorate churches, and render biblical scenes and figures. The bond between church and artist is under strain by the actions of a single priest, but we do not believe it will be broken.