Piazza Lucio Dalla hosts the Volunteer Ministers exhibition through 8 September, combining practical tools for everyday difficulties with first-hand accounts from communities assisted after floods and earthquakes
BOLOGNA, Italy, 3 September 2026 — A travelling yellow tent operated by the Scientology Volunteer Ministers has opened in Bologna’s Piazza Lucio Dalla, bringing to the city an exhibition focused on practical methods for helping people confront difficulties in everyday life, alongside photographs and accounts documenting volunteer work carried out during emergencies in Italy and internationally.
The initiative was inaugurated on Sunday, 30 August, before around 100 people and is scheduled to remain in the square through 8 September. Inside the large yellow pavilion, information panels and videos present approaches to subjects including communication, interpersonal relationships, study, work, marriage, raising children and coping with environments that may be experienced as unsafe or difficult.
The opening took on a particularly local character through the participation of three guests who had encountered the Volunteer Ministers not through an exhibition, but during emergencies affecting their own communities: Luca Vecchiettini, Mayor of Pianoro; Fabrizio Lazzarini, a restaurateur from Pianoro; and Andrea Ferrarini, former president of the Radio Club Contea Nord civil protection group in Bondeno.
Their accounts connected the educational material displayed inside the tent with the less visible work that often follows floods, earthquakes and other emergencies: clearing mud, supporting relief operations, helping residents restore damaged premises and assisting communities as they begin returning to everyday life.
Pianoro: a relationship born after the 2024 floods
Mayor Vecchiettini recalled the relationship established between the Municipality of Pianoro and the Volunteer Ministers following the severe flooding that struck the Bologna metropolitan area in October 2024.
The emergency caused extensive disruption across Bologna and neighbouring municipalities, including Pianoro and the Val di Zena, areas that experienced repeated extreme weather events during 2023 and 2024. The Emilia-Romagna regional authorities documented the scale of the recovery work undertaken in Pianoro and surrounding localities.
Vecchiettini, whose responsibilities include civil protection and community affairs, described at the Bologna ceremony the friendship that developed between the local administration and the volunteers during the recovery effort. His institutional responsibilities are listed by the Municipality of Pianoro.
Fabrizio Lazzarini offered a more personal recollection. His restaurant was among the premises overwhelmed by mud following the October flooding. A group of Scientology volunteers assisted with the clean-up, and the restaurant subsequently became an informal base for people involved in relief activities arriving in Pianoro from different areas.
During the inauguration, Lazzarini recalled the difficult days following the flooding and expressed his appreciation for the assistance received by his business and the surrounding community.
The third account reached further back into Emilia-Romagna’s recent history. Andrea Ferrarini spoke about the aftermath of the 2012 earthquake and the assistance provided in communities including Bondeno and Medolla.
The earthquake triggered extensive civil-protection and volunteer mobilisation across the region. The Italian Scientology-associated civil-protection organisation PROCIVICOS records formal acknowledgements received for volunteer assistance provided after emergencies, including recognition connected with the response in Medolla following the 2012 earthquake.
The three testimonies formed the central human element of the Bologna opening, illustrating how relationships established during emergencies can continue long after the immediate crisis has passed.
From emergency response to everyday difficulties
Following the ribbon-cutting, visitors entered the tent to see a photographic exhibition of Volunteer Ministers activities and material explaining the programme’s broader purpose.
Although their yellow shirts have become particularly associated with emergency response, the Volunteer Ministers programme was not conceived solely for disaster situations.
The programme was established in 1976 by L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology, as a religious social-service initiative intended to provide practical assistance to people confronting difficulties in their lives.
The programme is supported internationally by the Church of Scientology, and its training materials address such subjects as communication, study, relationships, marriage, parenting, workplace difficulties, stress and the achievement of personal goals.
Over the decades, an international Volunteer Ministers disaster-response network has developed alongside these community activities, with volunteers participating in relief operations following earthquakes, floods, fires and other emergencies.
That combination — preparedness for exceptional circumstances and attention to ordinary human problems — is central to the Bologna exhibition.
Rather than concentrating exclusively on images of disaster response, the displays also present methods intended to help individuals communicate more effectively, resolve difficulties and approach challenging situations in a more organised and constructive manner.
The approach reflects the broader purpose of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers programme: providing practical assistance in circumstances ranging from individual personal difficulties to large-scale emergencies.
Ivan Arjona, representative of the Church of Scientology to the European Union, OSCE, Council of Europe and United Nations, said:
“European communities depend not only on public institutions, but also on citizens who are prepared to help when another person or an entire neighbourhood faces difficulty. What has been remembered in Bologna — from the floods in Pianoro to the earthquake response in Emilia-Romagna — is a practical expression of solidarity. Helping people recover their ability to communicate, organise and move forward is closely connected with human dignity, civic responsibility and the values on which peaceful and resilient communities are built.”
The Bologna event also illustrates how a programme developed within a religious community can interact with municipal authorities, civil-protection organisations, businesses and individual citizens around practical forms of community assistance.
For the people who spoke at the inauguration, that relationship was based less on theory than on direct encounters during moments when additional help was needed.
Their presence in Piazza Lucio Dalla gave the exhibition a distinctly regional dimension, connecting the international history of the Volunteer Ministers programme with events experienced directly by communities in Emilia-Romagna.
The inauguration and the presence of the travelling tent in Bologna were also reported by BolognaToday.
A travelling programme across Italy
The Bologna installation forms part of a travelling initiative that has brought similar Volunteer Ministers exhibitions to cities across Italy.
Inside the tent, visitors can view photographic panels documenting humanitarian and community activities while learning about practical methods developed within Scientology for addressing everyday interpersonal and organisational problems.
The exhibition therefore presents two dimensions of the same programme: large-scale assistance during emergencies and practical support intended for everyday circumstances.
This distinction is significant because much of the Volunteer Ministers programme takes place outside disaster zones. Its methods were developed to address situations involving communication difficulties, conflict, study, work, relationships and other aspects of daily life.
In emergency settings, those same principles are applied in environments where organisation, cooperation and practical assistance can become especially important.
The Bologna tent remains in Piazza Lucio Dalla through 8 September, with the exhibition open daily from 10:00 to 23:00.
The Church of Scientology was founded on the religious philosophy developed by author and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard. The Volunteer Ministers programme was created by Mr. Hubbard in 1976 as a practical social-service initiative through which Scientologists and other trained volunteers can assist individuals and communities.
Volunteer Ministers have participated in humanitarian and disaster-response activities in many countries, while also providing educational materials addressing communication, relationships, study, work and other challenges encountered in daily life.
Churches of Scientology, missions, groups and members are present throughout the European continent. The Church’s recognition as a charitable and bona fide religion continues to grow across European jurisdictions, alongside activities undertaken by Scientologists in the fields of education, prevention, human rights, humanitarian assistance and community betterment.
