Elia Dalla Costa

Elia Dalla Costa (14 May 1872 – 22 December 1961) was an Italian Roman Catholic prelate and cardinal who served as the Archbishop of Florence from 1931 until his death. Dalla Costa served as the Bishop of Padua from 1923 until 1931 when he was transferred to Florence; he was elevated to the cardinalate on 13 March 1933. Dalla Costa was a staunch anti-fascist and anti-communist and was known best for providing refuge for Jewish people during World War II and providing others with fake documentation to flee from persecution.

Dalla Costa was noted for his deep faith and holiness and became a revered figure in Florence. He was considered "papabile" in the conclave in 1939 since he was considered a pastoral and non-political prelate with a strong sense of faith. that selected Pope Pius XII. He was considered to be papabile due to his pastoral sensitivities and due to the fact that he was considered a non-political prelate. Cardinal Francesco Marchetti Selvaggiani — who had voted for Pacelli (later Pius XII) — said Dalla Costa would have been elected as pope if the cardinals had wanted "an angel" rather than a diplomat. There were some sources suggesting that Pacelli himself had voted for either Dalla Costa or Federico Tedeschini. But others suggested that his candidature did not gain traction since he was deemed too anti-fascist (which could have been problematic) and was deemed to be cold and aloof. He encouraged his priests to save Jewish people from persecution knowing all too well the fate that would befall them if arrested and deported. Dalla Costa organized an elaborate rescue network and also wrote to the heads of all the Florentine convents and monasteries asking them to shelter Jews to keep them safe.

Dalla Costa was credited with being the "protective hand" of the city, aiding and speaking in favour of nonconformist and progressive Catholics in Florence. His reformist approach allowed for free development of reform-oriented and Catholic intellectuals in Florence, in effect producing more reformists than any other Italian city. Dalla Costa was also the mentor of Bruno Borghi, who took up full-time industrial labour in the 1950s and became involved in local trade unions, also forming postulates similar to liberation theology. Because of this, Borghi is regarded as the first worker-priest in Italy. Another progressive Catholic priest that received Dalla Costa's support was Enzo Mazzi, who became the parish priest of the newly built neighbourhood Isolotto in 1954. Under Mazzi's watch, Isolotto "became to second wave European Left Catholicism what the Besançon watch factory LIP became for the post-1968 European New and Far Left: the internationally most famous and infamous location of visionary conflict". To this end, Florence became known for its Left Catholic grassroots communities.

Together with Enzo Mazzi, Dalla Costa organized a Catholic social club in an abandoned factory in Isolotto, which also became a daycare centre, library and after-school coaching for the schoolchildren of socially disadvantaged families. It also expanded into other areas, such as becoming a nursery and a place for evening education classes and job training, as well as financial and moral assistance. Local newspapers hailed the club as “an organism articulated according to the highest standards of modern sociology”, praising it for filling the gap in the social life of the community and providing residents with a place to gather. Dalla Costa would also create a charity network through the centre, which was tasked with the distribution of clothing and food to local families in need.

On 15 November 1958, directors of the Galileo factory in Isolotto, which made optical equipment, announced plans to dismiss nearly 1000 workers. As a significant number of workers lived in Isolotto and were dependent on their job in manufacturing, the announcement sparked protests. In response, Dalla Costa released a public statement condemning the company for the layoffs and arguing that industrial leaders must recognize their social obligations instead of pursuing profit. Further chastising the industrialists, Dalla Costa stated that “those who do not use their assets for the good of the community hinder the affirmation of fundamental human and Christian values.” Cardinal's statement attracted significant attention, and "many newspapers printed the full text of Dalla Costa’s statement on the first page". Local trade unions and left-wing circles praised Dalla Costa's statement, with Giorgio La Pira declaring that his statement was “a type of act that recalls the gestures of the Prophets and Apostles of the Scriptures.” Left-wing newspaper Il Giornale del Mattino hailed Dalla Costa as the hero of the working class, listing his other achievements such as his stand against Mussolini as Bishop of Padova, rescuing Jewish refugees and intervening on behalf of striking workers during the Pignone crisis in 1953.

One of the consequences of the progressive Catholicism of the city was that Florence became the organizational hub of international meetings and peace conferences. The city largely resisted the anti-communist sentiment that marked the Cold War and was home to many conciliatory-minded clergy and thinkers who spoke in favour of peaceful, non-military solutions to Cold War confrontations between the Western and Eastern blocs. Dalla Costa himself stressed the need to enter dialogue with the Soviet bloc and seek rapprochement. An example of this was Dalla Costa's meeting with the acting mayor of Moscow, which became controversial in Italy; Horn recalled: "Virtually nowhere else in Italy — and probably nowhere else in Europe and the world at that time — could lay and Catholic observers witness the spectacle of a cardinal extending his welcoming hand to the acting mayor of Moscow in a location of such venerable tradition as Santa Croce in downtown Florence on the occasion of one of the spectacular international peace initiatives animated by La Pira."