The commitment of the Capodarco communities is well known—not only in the world of disability, but wherever people grapple with suffering caused by human injustice and feel called to transform the distorted mentality of indifference and separation into justice and collaboration.
The history of these communities is less familiar, and this book tells it with real power: from the first steps taken by don Franco Monterubbianesi and his friends—both disabled and not—in the early 1960s, through the founding of the first community and those that followed. Today Capodarco communities operate across ten Italian regions and in Ecuador. But perhaps what matters most is not the number of people drawn to share this experience, but the impact these communities had on a society that was hungry for change, for new ideas, for direction. These were the years of Vatican II, then 1968. At Capodarco, people were living out a shared life built on communion and self-management. The struggles were immense. So too was the brotherhood, the joy of working together and seeing the fruits of that work.
The book traces an exciting story of growth—with all that growth entails: hardship, conflict, lost and recovered balance, moments of such intensity as only the deepest clarity of purpose can create. A word about the title. What is "the logic of utopia"? The author answers best in his own words: "There is a logic of rationality—two plus two equals four, period. It works, but it cannot sustain an operation like the one underway at Capodarco. On a frontier like that, utopia is not idle dreaming but necessity; utopia is the optimal goal, irreplaceable even when it is clear we cannot reach it here and now, in material form—not out of stubborn bias, but because we understand fully that only our endless striving toward it gives our work the substance it requires."
Natalia Livi, 2000