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Outdoor Pagan temple vandalized, suspects arrested

Cara Schulz By |

JESOLO, ITALY — On April 15, a Pagan outdoor temple in Italy once again became the target of vandals. However, this time the act was caught on camera. As a result, five men were arrested when temple owners turned over the footage to police. It showed these men using temple chairs to smash a statue of Nike of Samothrace.

Screen capture from the video of the tape provided to police. [photo credit, Venice Today]

Screen capture from the video of the tape provided to police. [Photo Credit: Venice Today]

The Federazione Pagana, a Pagan polytheist group affiliated with the temple, noted that this was not the first time the outdoor temple had been vandalized. The group believes that the attacks may be motivated by ingrained religious bigotry. In a Venice Today article, one member was quoted as saying, “Is there any difference in the motivation of the person who did this from the motivation of [ISIL] to destroy Assyrian antiquities? If you ask [initiated] Pagans, there is terrorism evident from the hatred shown by the vandals. But I am convinced that if these are just random hoodlums, the actions are the result of Catholic education. What sense does it make to break Nike’s wing? Or what sense is there in taking out your rage on a public statue.” (April 17, 2015)

The land the temple sits on is privately owned by a member of the Federazione Pagana, which is headed by Claudio Simeoni. The Federazione Pagana is part of the European Congress of Ethnic Religions (ECER).

In a press release dated April 19, ECER member organization the Supreme Council of Ethnikoi Hellenes (YSEE) made “an appeal to the entire civilized world asking for the condemnation of the desecration of the open air sanctuary of the Italian Pagan Federation (Federazione Pagana) in the town of Jesolo near Venice, by five Christian fundamentalists on Wednesday April 15.”  The release continues on, saying:

The fact that the perpetrators were arrested, because the owners of the sanctuary managed to capture the attack on a video camera, should not placate us or lead us to believe that such an attack could not happen again anywhere in Europe, when people are still being indoctrinated by faiths that instill in them hatred for everything different.

According to the Unione Comunità Neopagane (UCN), the Federazione Pagana and its leader Claudio Simeoni are considered somewhat controversial. In a statement to The Wild Hunt, UCN Public Information Officer said, “I want to underline that, as Unione Comunità Neopagane, we strongly are against every form of violence (wherever it arrives or in every kind of form). But we have to underline that we have nothing to do with him and his group … We sadly note Claudio Simeoni and Federazione Pagana are, in their online pages, promoters of religious intolerance. Even if we understand the animosity against some religious groups, we are not Pagan because we are against someone or somewhat, but because we share common principles of freedom and inclusion.“ The UNC said that it is not yet clear if the vandalism was due to religious bigotry or retaliation for the comments Simeoni made against other religions and against homosexuality.

The UCN spokesman went on to say that generally Pagans don’t face legal problems in Italy. However, the group also said that the Catholic church still has a very strong influence in the country, and that the UCN was originally created to give protection to groups and associations. “We are nothing alone, but we are strong all together. And we live in a country where you must be strong, united and organized if you want to obtain something like civil rights.” UCN also has a Pagan temple, based in Milan, that is very accessible, and the UCN spokeman said that that they too have experienced vandalism or violence directed toward that space.

At this time, there is no mention of the motive for the recent vandalism. The five suspected vandals have been questioned and released, pending charges for trial.

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17 thoughts on “Outdoor Pagan temple vandalized, suspects arrested”

  1. I was brought up as a Catholic (though admittedly not in italy). At no time was I told to go out and destroy places of worship belonging to other faiths.

    • Frankly, I was raised as an intended-Catholic here in America and they insisted this sort of vandalism was righteous to do in history and the present so it’s not much of a stretch. Gods know where the targeted organization gets off being intolerant toward others, but clearly that’s not the reason as other Pagan groups get hit with this vandalism around the world. And in the same country.

      • I was raised in a smaller but still relatively popular Protestant sect. We were actively taught from a young age that Catholics were heathens, the same as pagans and atheists. Though we were never encouraged to be violent or even antagonistic, the overall attitude was one of animosity. I never saw any acts of vandalism against other religions, but I did see a general attitude that any of their religious objects were worthless, and I’ve heard of members of the church attempt to convince members of other religions to trash their religious objects (or false idols, as we referred to them). In general, the preference was that we would attempt to convert the heathens, and if we failed, then we should cut off ties as completely as feasible.

        I don’t think every church is like that, and I certainly don’t share those beliefs now, but there’s my two cents.

  2. The UNC said that it is not yet clear if the vandalism was due to religious bigotry or retaliation for the comments Simeoni made against other religions and against homosexuality.

    Could we maybe get more info about that? I don’t speak nor can read Italian so their (extremely ugly) webpage does not reveal much…

    Otherwise, even if some members of this organisation have a history of controversy I simply don’t imagine a horde of genderqueer people coming to smash down the statues of the Gods.It probably is something brainless overtly-conservative youth have done (like in Russia). Also, is the tape footage available to watch anywhere?

    In any cases, thank you for the story.

    • Using Google translate on the homosexuality link (which seems to provide a passable general translation) gives you gems like this:

      “Homosexuals who act in the environment Pagan seems not to affect any religious principle, but are more interested in the cult of the body and personality (as in Nazi ideology) beyond any religious belief. For homosexuals the religious idea has value only if it allows them to be the center of attention. If their body is admired.The religious principles, as such, homosexuals are not interested. It ‘a bit’ like the Jews who claimed to be socialist when Christian societies marginalized them and, once in power in Israel, enact racist and criminal towards the Palestinians.”

      • I had no idea google-translate would make that much sense.

        Thanks for the effort then. Those guys look pretty pathetic to me. What surprises me though is that this groupuscule is a member os the ECER which has gotten quite a lot of good press in TWH in the past. Far from starting doxxing or so but asking the ECER about their opinion on such matters might be helpful.

        • I’ve noticed that Google translate’s effectiveness can really depend on the language. It’s not too bad if you’re going from say Spanish or Swedish to English. Other languages like Finnish often give you nearly incomprehensible translations (which, if you know much about Finnish and it’s grammatical complexity, isn’t surprising).

        • This particular charge is nothing new. There were some homosexuals in the Brownshirts; some right wing ideologues generalize from that to claim (falsely) that the Nazi Party was run by a homosexual cabal. They are trying to deflect attention away from the fact that many conservatives in Europe and the U.S. admired and supported Hitler and Mussolini.

  3. Sounds like there are plenty of reasons that animosity would be felt toward this leader and the group.

  4. This is why Pagans should own several large canines who have a philosophical objection with punks encroaching upon their perceived sovereign territory.
    The punks get taught a lesson. The canines get exercise running them down. The owner doesn’t have to floss the canine’s teeth because the punk’s tendons do so.
    It’s a win for everyone. 😉

  5. dear fello friends my name is Jason im a pagan woodcarver from Norfolk England I had just carved a 135 ft copy of the Bayeux tapestry it was going to be exhibited in Norfolk but since people had found out that I was a pagan they now don’t even speak to me or have no interest in exhibiting my work its funny really most of my work is Christian icons if anyone nows where I could display my work please get in touch Jasonwelch bayeuxtapestry carving on facebook may the injustice against are people soon be at a end