A door that opens towards a path of hope. A concrete and tangible artistic work capable of representing a passage for the personal redemption of prisoners. This is the mission of “Doors of Hope”, an initiative inaugurated on Friday afternoon at the San Vittore prison in Milan “Francesco Di Cataldo”. An international project dedicated to dialogue between art, the prison community and civil society called to symbolically enter the reality of the penitentiary, overcoming prejudices about prisoners.
«Opening a door even when there is no wall means recognizing that no life is without a future. With this gesture we wish to affirm that hope is not an ornament, but a shared responsibility. A possibility that is renewed precisely in the places where it seems most fragile”, he said Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education.
He echoed it Monsignor Luca Bressan, delegate of the Archbishop of Milan: «The door is an invitation to recognize the other. But also a sign of charity, a word so loved by Blessed Enrichetta Alfieri cwho worked in this prison for a long time. As Enrichetta said: “Charity is a fire that loves to expand when it burns. I will suffer, I will work and I will pray to attract souls to Jesus”.
The work, created by the architect Michele De Lucchi, is located in front of the prison entrance and is made up of two high semi-closed doors without a frame, which evoke an opening open to the unknown. The surface, defined by a faceted ashlar inspired by the Renaissance one in particular in Palazzo dei Diamanti in Ferrara (the architect’s hometown), highlights a force not as a barrier, but as the foundation of the passage. The door does not distinguish an inside and an outside, but it is an architecture without a wall, an invitation to consider the transformation as a shared path and not as an isolated gesture. «Doors have always fascinated me. They contain the idea of passage, of waiting, of the beginning of an elsewhere. The Door of Hope is pure and solid presence, without a wall. It doesn’t separate, it doesn’t lead, it simply is. It marks a suspended place, open to the possible. Declaring the transformation as accessible means recognizing that each step can open a space of awareness, expectation and rebirth”, explained De Lucchi.
QThis project, which also involves some penitentiaries in Portugal, develops in the name of the teaching of Pope Francis who at the beginning of the Jubilee opened a Holy Door in the Roman prison of Rebibbia. A commitment of the Church, reiterated last December 14th also by Pope Leo XIV: «Prison is a difficult environment and even the best intentions can encounter many obstacles. Precisely for this reason, however, we must not get tired, discouraged or back down, but move forward with tenacity, courage and a spirit of collaboration.”
In 2026 “Doors of Hope” will continue with an itinerary of seven other installations in the rest of Italy. In addition to the symbolic value, the initiative will promote educational, laboratory and pastoral paths to guarantee the personal growth of prisoners. Penal institutions will avail themselves of the involvement of all the entities (educators, chaplains and voluntary associations) that already operate in support of them. The action to develop their technical skills will also be important, through training courses held in collaboration with institutions of excellence such as the Brera Academy of Fine Arts and ALMA. The initiative was promoted by the Pontifical Foundation Gravissimum Educationis of the Dicastery for Culture and Education of the Holy See in collaboration with the Dap (Penitentiary Administration Department) and created by the Culture and Education Jubilee Committee thanks also to the contribution of the Cariplo Foundation and the patronage of the Municipality of Milan.
«This door is used to look beyond. The work is dedicated to everyone, not just those who are temporarily deprived of freedom. Each person is worth more than the sum of their falls. And the community is called to take care of the most fragile people. Because as Pope Francis said, “everyone has the right to stand up””, was the invitation from the Deputy Mayor of Milan, Anna Scavuzzo. In closing, before the opening ribbon cutting, here is the profound speech by the artistic curator Davide Rampello: «Hope is a very profound feeling in the nature of men. Pandora, driven by curiosity, opened what Deus had given her to guard and poured out on the world all the evils we know. Only one thing remained inside the vase, Hope which is the ultimate feeling. Without it, man has no possibility of planning, of seeing life. Building, conceiving, designing monuments in this case doors, thresholds that must be crossed dedicated precisely to hope, means comforting, giving a truly profound meaning to this feeling. Having sought the interpretation not only of artists, but also of men and women from other disciplines, arts and professions, means seeking a chorality and an interpretative polyphony capable of comforting and helping those who have lost this hope. Placing the doors in front of prisons means recognizing that these are desperate places, places where sometimes there is no hope.”
