Giardino della pace

A garden for peace

This garden is dedicated to peace. To the women and men who - individually or together - have envisioned, built, and nurtured paths of peace in defense of human rights and human dignity.
To all those who have sought alternatives to violence and war.

Here we remember just a few examples - those who, often at great cost, opened new ways and pointed toward new directions. 
Their stories invite us to learn, to reflect, and to continue their work.

Let us not be discouraged. Until peace and justice belong to all.

Bertha Von Suttner

The First Woman to Receive the Nobel Peace Prize

An Austrian writer, Bertha von Suttner is best known for her major work Lay Down Your Arms, published in 1889 and translated into over 20 languages.
After coming into contact with the International Arbitration and Peace Association - whose mission was to promote peaceful treaties and arbitration in place of war between nations - she became deeply involved in the peace movement.

In 1905, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, thanks in part to the support of her great friend and admirer Alfred Nobel.
A year later, in 1906, she played a key role in the founding of the Anglo-German Friendship Committee, endorsed by the 1905 Peace Conference, with the goal of fostering reconciliation between the two nations.

She spoke out against the militarization of China and the development of aircraft for warfare.
At the 1908 Peace Congress, she strongly advocated for European unity as the only way to prevent the growing threat of global war.

In August 1913, already seriously ill, she attended the International Peace Conference in The Hague, where she was named "Generalissimo" of the international peace movement.
In May 1914, she was involved in organizing the 21st Peace Conference scheduled for Vienna that September - but passed away on June 21, 1914, just two months before the outbreak of the First World War.

Women at the Front Lines of Peace.
Women have always played a leading role in building peace and resisting war.
History is filled with powerful examples of their courage, dedication, and persistence - stories that have inspired generations of peace activists.

Here are just a few:

• Jane Addams – Founder of Hull House, a shelter for immigrants in Chicago. Nobel Peace Prize, 1931;
• Emily Greene Balch – American writer, economist, and peace activist. Nobel Peace Prize, 1946;
• The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo – A group of Argentine women who gather every Thursday in Buenos Aires to seek justice for their children who disappeared during the military dictatorship;
• Wangari Maathai (Kenya) – Nobel Peace Prize, 2004, for her work in sustainable development, democracy, and peace;
• Tawakkul Karman (Yemen), Leymah Gbowee (Liberia), and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (Liberia) – Joint Nobel Peace Prize winners in 2011 for their commitment to peace, democracy, and human rights in Africa;
• Malala Yousafzai – Pakistani activist for girls' education and women's rights. Nobel Peace Prize, 2014, at just 17 years old.

Mahatma Gandhi

Nonviolence as a Method for Resolving Conflict

The idea of civil disobedience was first developed in the United States in the 19th century by Henry David Thoreau, who was jailed for refusing to pay taxes in protest against slavery and war.
A few decades later, Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, deeply influenced by Thoreau’s writings, further developed the concept of nonviolent resistance, particularly as a tool in the struggle against colonialism.

But it was Mahatma Gandhi who brought theory and practice together.
Building on these earlier ideas, he led the great Indian anticolonial movement, rooted in the principles of nonviolence, and succeeded in challenging the might of the British Empire.

One of the most iconic examples was the Salt March of 1930. With thousands of followers, Gandhi walked over 300 kilometers to the sea to symbolically break the British monopoly on salt production.
In 1947, Britain was forced to leave India.

Gandhi’s philosophy inspired major global figures such as:

• Martin Luther King Jr. in the United States, who led the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s against racism
• Nelson Mandela in South Africa
• Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar.

In Italy, Danilo Dolci and Aldo Capitini embraced nonviolence to promote justice and peace.
In 1961, Capitini organized the first Peace March from Perugia to Assisi, with thousands of participants, including notable Catholic and secular intellectuals such as Norberto Bobbio, Giorgio La Pira, Ernesto Balducci, Lidia Menapace, and Danilo Dolci himself.

From war to hope

The United Nations and Nelson Mandela

The process leading to the foundation of the United Nations began at the end of World War II, which shook the entire planet.
The United Nations Charter was drafted and came into force on October 24, 1945, with the signing of 51 nations. Today, there are 193 member states.

The UN’s goals are to maintain international peace and security, protect human rights, provide humanitarian aid, promote sustainable development, and uphold international law.
Cooperation between nations has led to many positive outcomes. However, the ultimate goal remains distant: over the years, UN members have violated the treaty they signed and invaded other countries 285 times.

From the Gulf War in 1991 to more recent conflicts, the UN has often proven powerless, hindered by the interests of powerful nations and blocs.
Currently, the United Nations is engaged in about a dozen peacekeeping missions, in which many soldiers have lost their lives. The same fate has befallen personnel of various UN agencies working in critical regions around the world.

Nelson Mandela was a long-time leader of the South African anti-apartheid movement, including through armed struggle, and played a decisive role in ending the segregationist regime, despite spending 27 years in prison.

As South Africa’s first non-white president, Mandela worked with his predecessor Frederik de Klerk to dismantle apartheid; both were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

As president, Mandela led the transition from the old regime to democracy, earning worldwide respect for his support of national and international reconciliation.
He established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a key instrument in overcoming the country’s divisions.

The Italian Constitution repudiates war

The Constitution’s Commitment to Peace

The terrible war from which Italy emerged in 1945 inspired the country’s founding fathers and mothers to firmly vow never to allow such horrors to happen again.
This resolve led to the deliberate choice of the word “renounce” in Article 11 of the Constitution, expressing the deep rejection of any aggression against other peoples.

At the same time, the defense of the homeland - even by force - is declared a “sacred duty of the citizen” (Article 52).
The renunciation of war goes hand in hand with the promotion of a system of relations that ensures peace and justice among nations.

To build a peaceful world, the Constitution encourages Italy to enter into agreements and form organizations with other countries - such as the United Nations and the European Union - even if this means accepting a reduction in “sovereignty.”

Following the Constitution, important laws were enacted as the result of public awareness and mobilization: recognition of conscientious objection and civil service, the establishment of voluntary peace corps, and international cooperation initiatives.

The state’s efforts have been joined by local authorities, in a “bottom-up diplomacy” masterfully practiced by the mayor of Florence, Giorgio La Pira, and by civil society, committed to weaving threads of peace both inside and beyond national borders.

In this effort, educating younger generations about peace plays a fundamental role.

Military Spending

Global military spending reached a record $2.443 trillion in 2023, a 6.8% increase compared to 2022.
This represents 2.3% of the world’s GDP and 6.9% of global public spending.
Between 2019 and 2023, nine nuclear-armed countries spent $387 billion on nuclear weapons, with an annual spending increase of 34% - rising from $68.2 billion to $91.4 billion per year.

Pope John XXIII addresses Pacem in Terris to all people of good will

With the encyclical “Pacem in Terris” dated April 11, 1963, Pope John XXIII clearly positioned the Catholic Church on the side of peace.
Roncalli, who saved Jews from the Holocaust, knew well that humanity lives “under the shadow of a hurricane that could break out at any moment.”

Recalling the words of Pope Pius XII - “Nothing is lost through peace; everything may be lost through war” - John XXIII hoped that nations possessing lethal weapons would avoid the “unpredictable and uncontrollable” event of a new war.
Yet, he also feared that the “mere continuation of nuclear experiments for war purposes” could have “fatal consequences for life on Earth.”

War, peace, and the protection of creation are therefore vital elements in humanity’s journey.
From this comes a crucial lesson: “It is almost impossible to think that in the atomic age war can be used as an instrument of justice.”

In the encyclical, the Pope addressed, for the first time, “all people of good will,” believers and non-believers alike, because the Church must look towards a world without borders or “blocks” and does not belong to the West or the East.
“Let all nations, all political communities seek dialogue and negotiation.”
We must pursue what unites us, leaving aside what divides us.

“Pacem in Terris” is not an “utopian or culturally neutral message,” but a message of hope to fight the fear of the future, and it remains an invaluable ethical and cultural heritage.

The spirit of the Second Vatican Council, opened by John XXIII, embraced and strengthened this call for peace coming from both the secular and Catholic worlds.
These were the years of Aldo Capitini, Don Lorenzo Milani, Father Ernesto Balducci, Father David Maria Turoldo, the first conscientious objectors to military service and military tax resistance, and the commitment to reconvert the arms industry and promote disarmament - a sowing that will bear fruit.

There is no peace without recognition of rights

Twenty-seven million people live in slavery - more than double the number during the peak of the slave trade.
Over one billion adults are illiterate. Given the scale of human rights violations, it is no surprise that 90% of the population cannot name more than three of the thirty recognized rights.

Where individual and group rights are trampled, there can be no peace.
Where social and economic justice is absent, peace cannot exist.

Peace is not merely the absence of war, but a responsible coexistence of different rights, needs, and interests.

Throughout history and across the world, conflicts have been and continue to be countless because humanity is not a homogeneous or unified whole.
Conflicts suppressed by weapons and violence remain alive, ready to explode.

Those resolved through nonviolent methods pave the way for peaceful coexistence.
This is witnessed by nonviolent movements against racism in South Africa and the United States; struggles for human rights in Latin America and Eastern countries; conflicts defending sexual rights and linguistic minorities; and the fight to recognize the right of migrants seeking dignity and life in countries other than their own.

In these movements, women, men, and organizations have often risked their freedom and lives for the future of humanity.
These movements are often little known outside their national borders, reduced to brief mentions in newspapers, persecuted and ridiculed, yet vital for the people involved.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on December 10, 1948, established for the first time the fundamental human rights to be universally protected for all people, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, or other status.

Without recognition of rights, there can be no peace.

There is no peace  without social justice and environmental protection

The Commitment to Social Justice is essential for building peace. Work is a fundamental part of life, where people use their skills, express themselves, gain independence, and contribute to the common good. But too often, profit and the market seem to be the only guiding principles.

If there is no work, or if work is precarious, threatened, or lacks dignity, there is no peace. If a land’s natural resources are exploited by a few or by foreign powers, there is no peace. If a person must seek job opportunities and personal growth in another country, there is no peace. Where there is poverty, neglect, and abandonment… there is no peace.

In his encyclical Laudato si’, Pope Francis promotes the vision of integral ecology, which links the growing environmental problems (global warming, pollution, resource depletion, deforestation, etc.) with social issues: “There are not two separate crises, one environmental and one social, but one complex socio-environmental crisis.”

The solutions require an integrated approach to fight poverty, restore dignity to the excluded, and care for nature. In other words, “we cannot ignore that a true ecological approach is always a social approach that must integrate justice into environmental discussions, listening to both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.”

Peacebuilders are those who defend workers’ rights - especially where they are denied - as well as those who protect environmental biodiversity and safeguard it for future generations.

In many countries, even today, environmental defenders risk their lives for their commitment.