• Estate Ragazzi 2024 concludes with a video message from Pope Francis

    A celebration to say “Arrivederci” until next year

    A show with songs, dance and music and an explosion of joy and enthusiasm. Like many knights errant, children who participated in Estate Ragazzi at the Vatican reached the end of their journey. They decided to organize a party to say farewell. On Tuesday afternoon, 25 July, they met in the Paul VI Hall and invited Cardinal Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, Sister Raffaella Petrini, President and General Secretary of the Governorate of Vatican City State, respectively, parents, relatives and friends. The Cardinal greeted the children and joked with them.

  • Estate Ragazzi at the Vatican with the knights errant of Don Quixote de la Mancha

    A summer initiative for Governorate and Holy See employees

    The Knights errant of the literary genius Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra – Don Quixote de la Mancha and Sancho Panza – will be the protagonists of Estate Ragazzi,  2024, the Vatican’s summer camp, promoted by the Governorate of Vatican City State and organized by Father Franco Fontana, Director of the Salesian community in the Vatican and chaplain of the Directorate for Security and Civil Protection and of Vatican Museums. Participating children will explore the characters of the literary masterpiece, “The Adventures of Don Quixote de la Mancha” (original title in Spanish El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha)and will encounter new challenges and heroic adventures focused on the themes of kindness, generosity and courage.

  • Estate Ragazzi in Vaticano con i Cavalieri erranti di Don Chisciotte della Mancia

    Iniziativa per i figli dei dipendenti del Governatorato e della Santa Sede.

    I Cavalieri erranti usciti dal genio letterario di Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra - Don Chisciotte della Mancia e Sancio Panza - saranno i protagonisti dell'Estate Ragazzi in Vaticano dell'edizione 2024. Su di loro si confronteranno i bambini e i ragazzi che parteciperanno all'oratorio estivo promosso dal Governatorato dello Stato della Città del Vaticano e coordinato da don Franco Fontana, direttore della comunità salesiana in Vaticano e cappellano della Direzione dei servizi di sicurezza e di protezione civile e dei Musei Vaticani. Attraverso la storia del capolavoro della letteratura mondiale Don Chisciotte della Mancia (in spagnolo El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha), i ragazzi saranno stimolati ad affrontare nuove sfide, a compiere avventure e imprese eroiche intorno a tematiche quali la gentilezza, la generosità, il rispetto e il coraggio.

  • Estate Ragazzi summer camp is in full swing

    Facing challenges with courage

    With Don Quixote, to learn not to fear life’s difficulties, or feel alone because there is a friend at hand who can help. This year’s edition of Estate Ragazzi in the Vatican is teaching new generations to face challenges with courage. As the summer camp continues, Fr Franco Fontana, Director of the Salesian community in the Vatican and Chaplain of the Directorate of Security and Civil Protection Services and of the Vatican Museums, explains some details and announces the opening of a sporting centre for employees of the Governorate, where they will be able to engage in sports and socialize throughout the year.

  • Pope Francis meets the children of the Summer Boys in the Vatican

    Making peace is the most beautiful thing

    Five hundred colored balloons made of natural rubber - all biodegradable, including the rope, expression of the vocation to protect creation of the Governorate - launched into the sky to express joy for meeting with Pope Francis. On each were impressed the words of the Pontiff: "To you, dear boy, to you, dear girl, you are precious in the eyes of God".