The workshop for pizza makers, which involved young people between 16 and 18 years old, was launched to offer young people at risk of social marginalization a possibility of learning and subsequent insertion into the world of work.
As Fr Antonio Carbone, the Salesian in charge of the project, explained, Mani in Pasta' was born: “in an area where there are many difficulties and the prospects for work and commitment are also difficult. Our goal every day is to get young people off the street. We will save them from the clans thanks to a gastronomic laboratory that will teach them how to cook and bake pizzas. And thanks to this qualification they will be able to find an honest job.”
For many young people in the area, in fact, the project was just that: an alternative to dangers or the underworld. “I would have liked the course to last longer, to learn more and more techniques and improve,” said the young Saverio, 16 years old. “I still don't know if I'll want to do this job when I grow up but I'll carefully preserve this certificate that I conquered with constancy and sacrifice,” he added, showing himself proud of the results achieved.
But, precisely on the occasion of this moment of celebration, one cannot but turn a thought to Luigi, 17, who died in recent weeks in Naples, hit by a gunshot after attempting a robbery. Luigi was a guest of the Torre Annunziata community for a year and a half and, behind the counter, he was one of the most passionate.
To him, Fr Antonio Carbone, dedicated a long post on Facebook, recalling that Don Bosco always invites us to find in every boy that "point accessible to good".
“I remember him when with so much sacrifice he wanted to learn the profession of pizza chef, I remember him when during the months of lockdown three days a week, together with other guys he prepared pizzas to take to disadvantaged families, I remember him crying because in those months he couldn't see his family, I remember him on Sunday at Mass with downcast eyes when during the homily there was talk of the beautiful life to which Jesus calls us,” writes the Salesian, who then concludes: “I often hear this question asked: but of the children who pass through the community, how many are saved and how many are lost? Fortunately, life is an evolution, none of us have the seal of the saved and none are forever lost.”
