Saint Luigi Guanella spent three crucial years of his life from 1878 to 1881 in Traona, living in the chaplain’s house adjacent to the church of Sant’Alessandro. After having been in Turin with Don Giovanni Bosco, Guanella was sent to Traona to help the archpriest Giuseppe Bellieni, who was ill with paralysis. From the very beginning, the saint was admired by the churchgoers, attracting in particular the attention of youth through the catechism lessons he held in the oratory and the lessons he gave in his home, during which he taught many people to read and write.
Despite the commitment and benevolence shown by the people, he encountered difficulties on his path which tried to impede his work. However, Father Guanella strived to achieve his great objective: to found a home for the poor in this hamlet.
After facing hostility from the Valtellina civil and religious authorities and various economic restrictions, Father Guanella managed to found his first House of Providence in Traona in 1880 with the full support of the church members. However, the authorities saw the initiative as dangerous and ended up closing the free school that the saint had founded, claiming that he had not notified them of the activity.
Faced with these difficulties, Don Guanella accepted the Curia’s proposal to dedicate himself to caring for the souls in a small mountain community called Olmo. Despite the animosity on the part of the Sondrio prefecture and the local religious figures, Guanella never forgot the difficult yet providential experience in Traona. Afterwards, in Como, he founded his first House of Divine Providence, extending his work to help the needy, the disabled and the poor.
His activities spread all over the world, and he was declared a saint on 23 October 2011 by Pope Benedict XVI.
Saint Luigi Guanella spent three crucial years of his life from 1878 to 1881 in Traona, living in the chaplain’s house adjacent to the church of Sant’Alessandro. After having been in Turin with Don Giovanni Bosco, Guanella was sent to Traona to help the archpriest Giuseppe Bellieni, who was ill with paralysis.
SAINT LUIGI GUANELLA
MUSEUM
The inhabitants of Traona are closely bound to the figure of Father Guanella, who embodies the Christian message through work and effort. The flat where Father Guanella lived in Traona became a museum in 1977, and in 2013 was inaugurated after the restoration of the original rooms. The house is simple and modest, consisting of four rooms, with a kitchen, a study room and a bedroom which houses a painting probably by Father Guanella himself.
GUANELLIAN FLAT
Inside the former oratory, where the House of Culture currently stands, there is a large and modern flat dedicated to pilgrims who visit our land to discover its historical-religious heritage and retrace the footsteps of Saint Luigi Guanella.