Varzi, frazione Cella, Temple of Fraternity

The history of the Temple of Fraternity is linked to the memories of WWI, when don Adamo Accosa, military chaplain, needed to built the small church of his village on the mountains, and thought to collect wartime memorabilia to build a temple that epitomised human brotherhood. This priest-soldier was lucky enough to meet in Paris the then Monsignor Angelo Roncalli, who then became Pope John XXIII. The latter decided to help don Adamo, and sent him the first stone, which came from the shattered altar of a church that had been destroyed during the Normandy Landings. After that ruin, others followed, all sent from the places where the war had raged. The baptismal font is made up of the obturator of cannon 305 of the battleship Andrea Doria; weapons stained with blood, left there and offered from all over the world, now make up the Crucifix.
The remains of two British ships form the pulpit, no longer used now, which however remains as the symbol of a peace ideal.