Yesterday I was in an ex-church. The first I've been to in my entire life. But better, I put the story in context.
Yesterday my girlfriend received a call from a friend to help him organize something. I was listening as she spoke and I heard her say something about a church that was no longer a church. That got my attention right away. When she finished I asked her what was going on in the church that was no longer a church and she told me that there was a kind of 3-day festival in that place and that he had called her to help him create a picnic style dinner that very same evening.
Well, we got in the car and went to Cesena immediately. In Cesena is where the former church of the Holy Spirit is located. It is tucked in the very center between small alleys and as its name indicates the building no longer serves as a church. It belongs to the municipal government of Cesena.
There is not much information about this ex-church on the internet. I found some information in Italian.
Built on a project by Pier Mattia Angeloni, the Church of the Holy Spirit was built between 1694 and 1695. After the Napoleonic suppressions, the church was stripped of the works of art it contained, while in the second half of the 19th century the façade it was manipulated with the opening of three large windows still present today. Until 1989 it belonged to the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity, only to be sold to individuals, together with the convent that occupied the entire block between Isei, Tiberti and Martiri d'Ungheria streets. The whole of the convent was then the subject of a detailed plan of private initiative, within the framework of which, in 1995, the church of Spirito Santo was sold to the Municipality to deduct the costs of urbanization. - Source
When we arrive and enter the building we find this view.
The idea was to have a picnic-style dinner (the one my girlfriend was going to organize) and then there would be a play on the altar for those who had dinner. In half an hour after arriving we already knew more or less what was needed and we began to bring all the necessary material.
In the midst of all the work I was able to see another part of the ex-church, the back. It is a room that still retains a bit of the old ecclesiastical spirit, something that I did not feel in the larger room.
After almost 2 hours of work the view inside the ex-church had changed a lot.
An hour after this photo (4 hours of intense work in total) we had finished and we were so tired that we decided to leave immediately. We still had half an hour to drive by car.
Today the friend called and told us that the dinner was a success. And that at night it looked much more incredible with all the candles lit and the lights of the play than during the afternoon when we were there.
Despite not having been present, we still have the joy of a job well done and for me personally it takes me out of my virginity when it comes to ex-churches.
Greetings and until next time!