The David Lazzaretti Study Centre

You’d be hard pressed to find anything like this funny little museum anywhere else in the world. It’s a study centre dedicated to David Lazzretti (above), known in Arcidosso and the surrounding region as the profeta dell’Amiata (prophet of the Amiata).

Lazzaretti (1834-1878) dedicated his life to taking care of the lower classes in Amiata after the unification of Italy. Despite seeing himself as an instrument of God, he lost faith in the Pope and started his own religion under what was known as the Giusdavidic Church in 1870.

Lazzarettti hoped his church would be a vessel for a mystical and utopian socialism, but he was killed by Carabinieri shortly after and is now regarded by the Catholic Church as a heretic and a subversive.

The study centre displays documents written by Lazzeretti, as well as an in-depth description of his life and work using photos, texts, paintings, clothing and other items provided by Lazzretti’s family and scholars, as well as researchers who have studied him.