The courtyard of the Salesian centre is currently much freer than it was from March 2022; yet not all the work has yet been completed. "The official opening to complete the works is scheduled for June, on the occasion of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart," explained Fr Luca Barone, legal representative of the work. However, already today we are celebrating, for two reasons: on the one hand, because this is how the General Council that has promoted and accompanied the work from its beginning until now can participate; and on the other because the huge construction site of the Sacred Heart has only been possible thanks to the commitment of many people, from various different companies, some of which are now about to complete their part of the work. This‘ internal ‘ opening, therefore, is to say a complete thank you to all the people involved".
The first meeting concerning the restoration work of the Sacred Heart between the Rector Major, his Vicar, the Economer General and the Miotto engineering and architecture studio in Padua, coordinated by Salesian Brother Giampietro Pettenon, appointed by the Rector Major, dates back to 17 July 2020. From there, the first research and collection of the necessary documentation and planning of operational activities began.
2021 was the year of the preliminary phase, during which the drafting of projects and research, document analysis and the request for complex authorisations were started; while the beginning of the actual work was in April 2022.
The large construction site involved the entire quadrilateral of the Salesian Headquarters, which alone occupies an entire block in the centre of Rome, exactly in front of the central railway station of the Capital, Termini Station: from April to October 2022 the side on Via Magenta was worked on; from October 2022 to July the one on Via Marghera; then it was the turn of the entrance side on Via Marsala, from August 2023 to March 2024; and finally, from April to December 2024, the part overlooking Via Vicenza.
Worthy of particular note is the fact that the interventions concerned the structure from the foundations to the roof, to make the building eco-sustainable and compliant with the most up-to-date laws and best practices in terms of energy savings.
Other special interventions were carried out to create new environments rich in meaning, such as the "Chapel of the Word" – the new church of the community – or the Chapel of the Letter – in memory of Don Bosco's Letter from Rome of 10 May 1884; or again, they were others made necessary for the arrangement of several special environments such as the Little Rooms of Don Bosco in Rome and their transformation into the "Don Bosco Museum", or the space of the former theatre below the basilica.
Although activities in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart and in the central offices have never paused – even with the temporary transfer, internally or outside, of some services – a total of about 15,000m2 of surface have been restored thanks to the work of 14 companies, coordinated by Studio Miotto. "The parties involved met once a week, and 170 minutes of meetings and operational decisions were produced!" Fr Barone says.
The particular position of the Salesian work, subject, like the entire centre of Rome, to particular constraints of historical architectural protection and logistical and organisational considerations, and the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the increase in costs around the world market that generated an impact on the supply of materials, certainly made the work more challenging.
Hence it is with special satisfaction that the Salesians there are now celebrati ng this "internal" opening, waiting to share their joy later with the authorities, institutions and all the faithful and regulars of the centre, in the coming month of June.
