Fine Art Auction Fundraiser

We have one item in our auction: DESTINO, a mixed-media painting by Maestro Ennio Bencini.

Make your bid now (or choose the Buy Now option) to own this inspirational work of art. To do this, click on the green View All Items button on the left. You must log in to get a bidder name and participate in the auction.

All proceeds from this auction will go directly toward restoring San Filippino -- an abandoned 17th century baroque chapel in Castiglion Fiorentino, Tuscany, Italy. See additional photos of "Destino" here: www.friendsofsf.org/auction. See photos of the stunning chapel we're saving here: www.facebook.com/friendsofsanfilippino. See a two-minute interview with the Maestro Bencini here: https://youtu.be/5wo0OuuZdNI.

Minimum bid is $1200. If you don't wish to bid, please consider making a donation instead: www.friendsofsanfilippino.org/donate.

WHY WE CREATED FRIENDS OF SAN FILIPPINO
Much of Italy’s important religious, artistic and cultural patrimony is rapidly deteriorating and will soon be lost forever. As a result, much of the tangible manifestation of what is best about western civilization itself is deteriorating and in danger of being lost forever.

Thousands of buildings—baroque churches, ancient convents, Renaissance municipal buildings, medieval palazzos—are crumbling and falling into ruin. Statuary, frescoes, altars, mosaics, and so much more are rapidly deteriorating because of exposure and neglect.

Many secular and sacred spaces that sheltered, nurtured and inspired countless thousands of our Italian American ancestors are now home to pigeons and rats, unfit for human habitation.

The problem is daunting. What can individuals like us, Americans of modest means, do about this?

And aren’t other people supposed to be saving these structures anyway? Shouldn’t the government save all these buildings? Shouldn’t the Catholic church? The Vatican has enormous resources, right? “Talk to Pope Francis,” many Americans tell us. “Ask the curia,” many Italians tell us.

But the hard truth is that WE—you and I—are the only people who are going to save our collective patrimony. It’s up to average people like us, along with those among us who do have more significant resources.

We need to join forces—middle class and wealthy, small family foundations and large institutional foundations, small business owners and corporate philanthropy programs—to solve this problem.

That’s why we founded Friends of San Filippino. We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with one big, audacious overall mission and a specific project that embodies that mission.

Our overall mission is to help create a movement and a model for ordinary people based in the United States who want to start a nonprofit organization to restore an important place and help revitalize an amazing small town anywhere in Italy.

The specific project that we’re obsessed with is the restoration of San Filippino.

We are working hard to 1) fully restore the beautiful little 17th century baroque chapel of San Filippino, located in Castiglion Fiorentino, Tuscany, Italy, and 2) re-establish the chapel's associated common areas and apartments as places where pilgrims, priests, scholars, business leaders, artists, and people of all walks of life can gather to learn and share and help one another.

If you don't wish to bid, please consider making a donation instead: www.friendsofsanfilippino.org/donate.