Danilo Dolci was born in the Karstic town of Sežana (now in Slovenia), at the time part of the Italian border region known as Julian March.
His father was an agnostic Sicilian railway official, while his mother, Meli Kokelj, was a deeply Catholic local Slovene woman.
The young Danilo grew up in Mussolini’s fascist state.
As a teenager Dolci saw Italy enter into World War II.
He worried his family by tearing down any Fascist war posters he came across.

"I had never heard the phrase 'conscientious objector'," Dolci later said, "and I had no idea there were such persons in the world, but I felt strongly that it was wrong to kill people and I was determined never to do so."
He tried to escape from the authorities who suspected him of tearing down the posters, but he was caught while trying to reach Rome and ended up in jail for a short time.
He refused to enlist in the army of the Republic of Salò, Mussolini's puppet state after the Allied invasion in 1943.

Dolci was inspired by the work of the Catholic priest Don Zeno Saltini (it) who had opened an orphanage for 3,000 abandoned children after World War II.
It was housed in a former concentration camp at Fossoli near Modena in Emilia Romagna, and was called Nomadelphia (it): a place where fraternity is law.
In 1950 Dolci quit his very promising architecture and engineering studies in Switzerland at the age of twenty-five, gave up his middle class standard of living and went to work with the poor and unfortunate.
Dolci set up a similar commune called Ceffarello.

Don Zeno was being harassed by officials who felt he was a Communist, and even the Vatican turned against Don Zeno, calling him the "mad priest."
The authorities decided to put the orphans into asylums and close down both Nomadelphia and Ceffarello.
Dolci had to sit by and watch as government forces took off with many of the commune's children, and had to gather up all his energy in the building of a new Nomadelphia.
By 1952, he was ready to move on and work elsewhere.
Danilo Dolci was born in the Karstic town of Sežana (now in Slovenia), at the time part of the Italian border region known as Julian March. His father was an agnostic Sicilian railway official, while his mother, Meli Kokelj, was a deeply Catholic local Slovene woman. The young Danilo grew up in Mussolini’s fascist state. As a teenager Dolci saw Italy enter into World War II. He worried his family by tearing down any Fascist war posters he came across.
"I had never heard the phrase 'conscientious objector'," Dolci later said, "and I had no idea there were such persons in the world, but I felt strongly that it was wrong to kill people and I was determined never to do so." He tried to escape from the authorities who suspected him of tearing down the posters, but he was caught while trying to reach Rome and ended up in jail for a short time. He refused to enlist in the army of the Republic of Salò, Mussolini's puppet state after the Allied invasion in 1943.
Dolci was inspired by the work of the Catholic priest Don Zeno Saltini (it) who had opened an orphanage for 3,000 abandoned children after World War II. It was housed in a former concentration camp at Fossoli near Modena in Emilia Romagna, and was called Nomadelphia (it): a place where fraternity is law. In 1950 Dolci quit his very promising architecture and engineering studies in Switzerland at the age of twenty-five, gave up his middle class standard of living and went to work with the poor and unfortunate. Dolci set up a similar commune called Ceffarello.
Don Zeno was being harassed by officials who felt he was a Communist, and even the Vatican turned against Don Zeno, calling him the "mad priest." The authorities decided to put the orphans into asylums and close down both Nomadelphia and Ceffarello. Dolci had to sit by and watch as government forces took off with many of the commune's children, and had to gather up all his energy in the building of a new Nomadelphia. By 1952, he was ready to move on and work elsewhere.
Danilo Dolci