The dream of Don Zeno Saltini, parish priest, was to found a community that would "return to the origins of Christianity after a lapse of 20 centuries." As a curate, he began by setting up lodgings for homeless children. In 20 years these grew into Nomadelphia—the "Town of Brotherhood," a settlement of 1,150 souls, most of them orphans under 15, outside the Italian city of Modena (TIME, June 26, 1950).
The young citizens of Nomadelphia, whom Don Zeno called his "Little Apostles," lived a life of Christian communism. Food, clothing and other necessities came...
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