Thousands of visitors go to the Italian Chapel in Orkney every year,
witnesses to a series of remarkable acts of transformation. Among these
are the Churchill Barriers nearby, straddling the ocean to link a number
of Orkney's southernmost islands to its mainland. Constructed to protect
Britain's naval fleet in Scapa Flow during World War Two, its builders
included a group of Italian soldiers imprisoned in this bleak and
windswept part of Scotland. In the course of this, they not only played
a part in changing Orkney's way-of-life forever but also transformed a
simple Nissen Hut, constructing through their labours a place-of-worship
that still stands till this day a remarkable symbol of their identity
and faith.
The Italian Chapel: Orkney tells the story of the strength and tenacity,
laughter and tears of the men who built the Italian Chapel, showing how
spirits defeated and despondent during years of exile were lifted by its
creation. It does this with its own artistry and grace, using folk-tale
and myth to provide a fitting counterpart to the wonder and beauty of
the building that inspired it.
