A married couple and a monastery – biographical notes

In the early Seventies, our friends at the Catholic University Students' Federation of Florence used to call us Maria and Paolino. This was at the time when we started off as a couple, two enthusiastic twenty year-olds seeking to give a deep meaning to their life. Our friendship with the Benedictine monastery of Camaldoli, and in particular with Fr Benedetto Calati, was a fundamental point in our journey of Faith.

We graduated – Maria in Medicine and Paolo in Engineering – got married, began our careers, and had three children. The passage of time brought about changes in our family life, and the monastic community experienced a renewal as well, but the relationship begun thirty years earlier became stronger and led us to our monastic oblation in 2000.

We are currently living in Florence. We meet regularly with the other oblates of Camaldoli and we have a network of friends deriving from our meetings and stays in that monastery. Paolo teaches Topography at the University of Florence and Maria is a gynaecologist. We help out in the various activities of the Church in Florence and we thank God for our life which, though not always easy, is full of joy and friendship.