Don Lorenzo Milani and the Barbiana Trail: History, Route and Visitor Information
Among the woods of Monte Giovi, in the hills around Vicchio, lies Barbiana, one of the most important places in Mugello’s recent history. Don Lorenzo Milani lived here from 1954 until the final months of his life, turning a small mountain rectory into a school known throughout Italy.
Barbiana still preserves the memory of that experience. The woodland path, the church, the simple classrooms, the materials made by the students and the famous motto “I care” tell the story of a priest who devoted his life to educating the poorest children.
A visit offers a chance to learn more about Don Milani and understand the conditions in which his school came into being: an isolated place, difficult to reach, where the children of farming families had few opportunities to continue their education.
Who Was Don Lorenzo Milani?
Lorenzo Milani was born in Florence in 1923, the second of three children, into a cultured, well-to-do family with little connection to religious practice. His father, Albano Milani Comparetti, came from a family of scholars and intellectuals. His mother, Alice Weiss, was from Trieste and of Jewish heritage.
Lorenzo grew up surrounded by books, art and cultural debate. He was an intelligent but inconsistent student: he threw himself into subjects that interested him and neglected the rest.
After completing his classical secondary education, he decided not to go to university and devoted himself to painting. He studied at the Brera Academy in Milan and attended classes taught by several established artists. His artistic talent may have been modest, but even then he showed an intensity and determination that would shape the choices he made later in life.
In the early 1940s, he began to explore Christianity. Few details of his conversion are known. As far as we know, it was not a sudden revelation, but an inner journey shaped by study, reflection and his encounter with Don Raffaele Bensi, who would later become his spiritual director.
In 1943, aged twenty, Lorenzo entered the seminary. His family was surprised by his decision but did not try to dissuade him. Four years later, on 13 July 1947, he was ordained as a priest and celebrated his first Mass at the church of San Michelino in Florence.
His religious commitment was uncompromising. Don Milani left behind the privileged world in which he had grown up to live alongside workers, farmers and poor families. He saw social injustice as an affront to human dignity and the message of the Gospel.
He was direct and had little patience for compromise. His spiritual director, Don Raffaele Bensi, described him in words that became famous: “Clear and hard as a diamond, he was bound to wound others and be wounded himself.”
The Workers’ Evening School in Calenzano
Don Milani’s first major pastoral work was in San Donato, in the town of Calenzano near Florence. He arrived in 1947 as assistant priest to the elderly parish priest, Don Daniele Pugi.
At the time, Calenzano was changing rapidly, with growing industry and a large working-class population. Most of its residents voted for the Communist Party and viewed the Church with suspicion.
At first, Don Milani tried to engage young people through football, table tennis and the recreational activities commonly organised by parishes. He soon changed tack. He became convinced that a lack of education was the main barrier to workers’ freedom.
He therefore founded an evening school for young workers and farmers. It was open to everyone, regardless of their religious or political beliefs. Don Milani wanted to ensure that no young person had to choose between their family’s views and the chance to study.
The school aimed to give workers the tools to understand the world and stand up for their rights. Reading a newspaper, understanding an employment contract, following a political speech and expressing their own ideas clearly were all essential skills for taking part in public life.
Don Milani believed that a command of language separated those who could stand up for themselves from those forced to rely on others. Education gave workers the ability to understand the reasons behind a strike, exercise their right to vote thoughtfully and hold their own in a discussion with more highly educated people.
The school was not intended to recruit new believers or impose a political position. Don Milani promised his students that he would always tell the truth, even when it was uncomfortable for the Church or any other side.
Don Milani’s Arrival in Barbiana
In 1954, after the parish priest of San Donato died, many local people expected Don Milani to take his place. The Archdiocese of Florence instead assigned him to the parish of Sant’Andrea in Barbiana, in the mountains of Mugello.
Barbiana was not really a village. Around the church and rectory stood a small cemetery and a handful of scattered houses among the woods and farmland. The parish was due to close, and many saw Don Milani’s new assignment as a way of sending him away.
He arrived on 6 December 1954, in pouring rain. The last few kilometres had to be walked along a mule track. The rectory had no running water, gas or electricity.
The following day, he bought a plot in the small cemetery beside the church. He was thirty-one. The gesture made clear that he saw Barbiana as his permanent home.
The area was mainly home to farmers, shepherds and sharecropping families. Children helped in the fields, looked after animals and often left school after primary education. The distances and lack of transport made it difficult to attend school in nearby towns.
Don Milani realised that without practical support, these children would be shut out of education and have little chance to choose their own future.
The Barbiana School
The Barbiana school opened in 1956 to welcome the first boys who had finished primary school. It initially offered vocational training and was run in the rooms of the rectory, under the pergola and outdoors.
Resources were scarce. Don Milani was the only teacher, and often the students had just one textbook to share. The boys made their own tables, chairs, maps, scientific instruments and teaching materials.
The school day was very different from that of a traditional school. The boys studied for many hours a day, for almost the whole year. Don Milani felt it was unfair to give the same amount of school time to children from very different social backgrounds.
Children from educated families continued learning at home through books, conversation and help from their parents. The boys in Barbiana had to find at school what they had not received at home. Catching up meant spending more time studying and working consistently.
Lessons covered Italian, history, geography, mathematics, foreign languages, politics and current affairs. The boys read newspapers, studied laws, discussed issues affecting workers and tried to understand how public institutions worked.
Language was central to the school’s approach. Don Milani believed that social inequality was also linked to people’s ability to express themselves. A limited vocabulary made it harder to understand a text, put forward an argument or defend oneself before an authority.
Visitors also took part in lessons. Journalists, teachers, politicians, trade unionists, priests and people with specialist knowledge were invited to speak with the students and answer their questions.
Don Milani encouraged the boys to overcome their shyness and engage with adults. Some students were sent abroad to learn languages, supporting themselves through work and putting into practice what they had learned in Barbiana.
The Meaning of “I Care”
The words “I care” were displayed on the school wall. The English phrase can mean “it matters to me”, “I’m interested” or “I take responsibility”.
These words summed up Barbiana’s approach to education. Students were encouraged to care about the problems facing society and the lives of others. For Don Milani, indifference stood in the way of any kind of change.
Education was not simply a way to find a better job. It should help shape informed citizens who were ready to take responsibility and play an active part in public life.
“I care” has become the best-known symbol of the Barbiana school. It is still used by schools and organisations working in education, active citizenship and the fight against inequality.
Letter to a Teacher
The best-known work to come out of Barbiana is Letter to a Teacher, published in 1967 and written collectively by Don Milani and his students.
The book took shape after some of the boys failed their exams. Using data, personal accounts and concrete examples, it criticised a state school system that failed to address inequality at its roots.
In the authors’ view, applying the same standards to students from completely different backgrounds ended up favouring those who already had the cultural tools they needed. Children from poorer families were more likely to be labelled lazy or incapable, without any consideration of the circumstances in which they had grown up.
In Barbiana’s vision, schools should devote more resources to students who were struggling. Their role was to help everyone understand, communicate and take part in society.
The book became widely read after Don Milani’s death and went on to become one of the key works in the debate about education in Italy. Over the years, it has often been quoted selectively and interpreted outside the context in which it was written.
Don Milani on Conscience and Obedience
Don Milani’s work was not confined to the classroom. He took part in some of the major social and religious debates of his time.
In 1958, he published Pastoral Experiences, a reflection on parish life and the relationship between the Church, poverty and education. The book had received Church approval but was later withdrawn from sale by the Holy Office on grounds of expediency.
In 1965, Don Milani entered the debate on conscientious objection. Some military chaplains had called men who refused military service cowards. The prior and the boys of Barbiana responded with an open letter.
The letter defended the primacy of conscience and the individual’s responsibility when faced with unjust orders. This exchange led to Letter to the Military Chaplains and, later, Letter to the Judges.
Don Milani was put on trial for incitement to commit a crime. By then, he was seriously ill with lymphoma and was unable to attend the trial in person.
He died on 26 June 1967, aged forty-four, at his mother’s home in Florence. He was buried in the small cemetery at Barbiana, in the plot he had bought when he arrived.
In 2017, Pope Francis visited Barbiana, prayed at Don Milani’s grave and held him up as a priest to learn from.
The Barbiana Trail
The route to Barbiana winds through the woods and hills around Vicchio. The climb is one of the most striking walks in the area and gives visitors a sense of the isolation in which the prior and his students lived.
Along the way, you’ll come across the Resistance Trail and the Constitution Trail, created by the Fondazione Don Lorenzo Milani.
The Constitution Trail features information panels and installations dedicated to the fundamental principles of the Italian Republic. Its themes echo many aspects of Don Milani’s teaching: equality, the right to education, human dignity, participation and responsibility.
The final stretch climbs steeply through the woods. Reaching the church, rectory and small cemetery gives you a real sense of how far Barbiana was from the towns of Mugello.
Visiting the Barbiana School
The school buildings are now cared for and maintained by the Fondazione Don Lorenzo Milani, which has restored the spaces and preserved much of the original school material.
The visit includes the indoor and outdoor classrooms, church, workshop, forge, pergolas and other places used during the school’s years in Barbiana.
You can see the tables and chairs made by the students, a hand-drawn map, the original “I care” sign, a wall-mounted historical atlas, an astrolabe and several charts on school selection, Parliament, voting rights and the emergence of independent African states.
Visits must be booked in advance through the Foundation. The guided tour is free, lasts around two hours and is led by knowledgeable volunteers. Families and individual visitors are usually placed in groups that have already been organised.
The Foundation asks visitors to approach Barbiana with respect. The simplicity of the place has been deliberately preserved, rather than turning it into an ordinary tourist attraction.
A Place to Discover in Mugello
Barbiana is one of the most rewarding places to visit during a stay in Mugello. The experience brings together landscape, local history, education and civic memory.
The school and the objects preserved there tell the story of how a small, isolated parish became a touchstone in Italy’s debate about the right to education. The simple surroundings help visitors picture the daily lives of Don Milani and his students.
The trail completes the experience, leading through the woods of Monte Giovi and past displays exploring the principles of the Italian Constitution. Once you reach Barbiana, ideas such as equality, responsibility and the right to education take on a more tangible meaning.
Many years after Don Lorenzo Milani’s death, his school still speaks to visitors and reminds us of the power of education to bring freedom.