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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Angela Giuffrida in Assisi

Assisi braces for visitor influx as Jubilee year for Catholics starts on Christmas Eve

An image of 15-year-old Carlo Acutis is unveiled during his beatification ceremony celebrated by Cardinal Agostino Vallini in the St. Francis Basilica, in Assisi,
Carlo Acutis was beatified in 2020 at the St Francis Basilica in Assisi. Photograph: Gregorio Borgia/AP

Inside a souvenir shop in Assisi, the face of a boy with thick black curly hair smiles out from wall tapestries, fridge magnets and key rings, outshining the flying cherubim, snow globes and other religious trinkets that cram the shelves.

But the owner, Elvira Boccacci, is struggling to explain to some intrigued tourists who Carlo Acutis, the boy in the image, is. “Americans have asked if he’s an Italian footballer, because of his tracksuit top,” she said.

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