Lutheranism had connections with Italy already at the time of the Reformation. Luther wrote two long letters to the Lutherans in Venice, Treviso and Vicenza. The first Lutheran community in Italy was formed in Venice in 1650. Other congregations were founded in the course of the 19th century – in Trieste, Rome, Naples, Genoa, San Remo, Florence, Bozen, and Milan – as Evangelical Lutheran churches for German-speaking people. In 1946 the Lutheran congregations founded the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Italy (ELCI). Nowadays 15 congregations are members of the ELCI.

The ELCI’s plans for Reformation 500

• Joint theological declaration of the historical protestant churches (Lutherans, Waldensians, Methodists) on the 3rd of December 2016 in Rome
• ELCI-Synod with working title “The Reformation today: The Position of Protestant Churches as part of contemporary Italian society” Venice, 22th-25th April 2017

• Participation to the World Exhibition 2017 and to  the Deutscher Evangelischer Kirchentag in Wittenberg together with the Waldensian Church, the Methodist Church of Italy, the union of Baptist Churches in Italy and other partners. Title of the Italian exhibition: Riforma 500 Cinquecento (28th May-11th June 2017)
• Riforma 500 Cinquecento – 500 years of Reformation in Italy, common central celebration of the 500th jubilee of Reformation in Italy in cooperation with all long-established protestant Churches in Italy (Lutherans, Waldensians, Methodists, Baptists, Adventist Church), 1-4 June 2017 in Milan.
• On the 3rd of June at 17.00 common service will take place in a central location.The recording of the service will be broadcast in Eurovision the following day.
• On the same evening a public theatre performance will be held in a central location: Teatro in Fabula from Naples will present “95 Tesi”

ELCI congregations’ projects

Every single congregation will organize local events independently.

Naples

• A travelling exhibition “Waiting for 2017” starting from Capodimonte Museum (Naples) and moving through other Italian locations
• Training seminars for secondary school teachers on the topic of the Reformation in collaboration with the local Goethe Institut
• Concerts in the Lutheran Church
• A theatre performance and a film festival
• Exhibition, international conferences and guided visits in Capodimonte Museum on the topic of the Reformation

Torre Annunziata

• Contest for secondary schools of Torre Annunziata and Naples: essays on the subject of the Reformation and its cultural consequences. Prizes will be distributed on the 12th of June 2016

Turin

• 16.2.16 – 15.3.16 5 Seminars for secondary school teachers on the topicality of the Reformation 500 years after Luther’s 95 theses, organized in collaboration with evangelical publishing house Claudiana and the Evangelical Cultural Center Arturo Pascal in Turin
• Contest in the city’s secondary schools on the theme “The topicality of the Reformation” (essays, paintings and drawings, photos and videos) in collaboration with evangelical publishing house Claudiana and the Evangelical Cultural Center Arturo Pascal in Turin
• 31.10.2016 common service with all local protestant denominations
• 5.2./ 6.2.2017:  Concert at Teatro Regio dedicated to the Reformation Jubilee: Bach – Haydn – Meyerbeer
• June 2017: Theatre performance: “The 95 theses – a story of Luther”  of the theatrical company Teatro in Fabula from Naples
• The following initiatives are also planned in collaboration with Waldensians, Baptists and Adventists: Luther Tree in Wittenberg, a conference, concerts, a Film Festival with the participation of Museum of Cinema in Turin.

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