During his recent visit to the Rondine Cittadella della Pace international peace mission in Tuscany, Monaco’s Prince Albert II shared his hopes for a world of “tolerance, dialogue, trust, reconciliation and lasting peace.”
Over the weekend, Prince Albert headed to Tuscany for a tour of the Rondine Cittadella della Pace campus near Reggio Emilia. Founded in 1998, Rondine has grown from humble beginnings in the medieval town of the same name to become a wide-reaching international organisation dedicated to reducing armed conflicts and promoting a culture of peace worldwide.
Monaco has maintained a partnership with Rondine since 2015 and has lent its support to an array of globally minded projects, as well as acting as a sponsor to three students at the organisation’s World House, two of whom were there to meet with the Prince during his visit on Sunday 15th September.
Clearly impressed with the work being done by Rondine, Prince Albert said, “I am delighted to be here with you this morning and have taken great interest in visiting the campus facilities and listening to your explanations and testimonies. I am impressed by Rondine’s unique setting and by the creative tool it represents for supporting conflict transformation on a global scale.
I wish to commend Rondine for its exceptional initiatives and commitment, here in Italy and advancing peace worldwide… Rondine contributes to tearing down barriers, biases and misconceptions. We [the people of Monaco] welcome all initiatives promoting a culture of tolerance, dialogue, trust, reconciliation and lasting peace… I concur, ‘If war is a choice, peace can be too’. I would even add that, more than a choice, peace – like environmental sustainability – is a duty to humanity, and our responsibility.”
In 2023, Monaco became the third country to join Rondine’s Leaders for Peace Appeal, an initiative jointly launched by the organisation’s student body and the United Nations. The Principality was also a key sponsor of an event held in New York in December last year that promoted the ‘Rondine Method’ of fostering coexistence, dialogue, conflict resolution and peacebuilding between young people hailing from nations that have been or are still at war.
“My country will continue to work with Rondine as part of its ongoing commitment to support peace efforts around the globe,” added the Prince, in a speech following his tour of Rondine, which was conducted by Franco Vaccari, the organisation’s president. “In a world plagued by conflicts and where international law and multilateralism are eroding, building bridges between individuals and communities is more important than ever. Rondine is a remarkable organisation, and we are proud to stand by its side.”
La Verna
The Rondine Cittadella della Pace wasn’t the only stop on the sovereign’s itinerary. Prior to his visit to the peace project, he spent the afternoon of Saturday 14th September in the Tuscan province of Arezzo, exploring the La Verna Franciscan sanctuary.
Prince Albert was accompanied by Anne Eastwood, Monaco’s Ambassador to Italy, for this leg of the tour, and the two were greeted at the celebrated site by Brother Guido Fineschi and Brother David Gagrcic.
Located in the heart of the Tuscan Apennines, this historic sanctuary has been a place of pilgrimage for people from around the world and is best known as the place where Saint Francis of Assisi received the stigmata on 17th September 1224. Indeed, Princess Grace of Monaco came to La Verna on pilgrimage with Princess Caroline, Prince Albert’s elder sister, in 1968.
Prince Albert was invited by the monks to look through the sanctuary’s archives and browse the photographs that commemorate his late mother’s journey to La Verna. It would have been a poignant experience for the Prince; Princess Grace passed away 42 years to the day of his own visit to the sanctuary.
To see more photographs of Prince Albert’s Tuscan tour, click on the images below:
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Photo credits: Axel Bastello / Palais Princier de Monaco