In Italy, a school teaches reconciliation over revenge

At 9 a.m. sharp on the last day of September, as every year for the past two decades, the bell signaling the beginning of a new academic year echoes across the cobblestone alleys of Rondine, a one-of-its-kind school near the Italian city of Arezzo.

Đorđe Mirkovic, a 24-year-old new student, looks excited as he peruses the wide variety of flags hanging just outside the main gate of the school’s premises, reflecting his fellow students’ different nationalities. 

“I came here because I hope to become an overall better person ... to foster a better future for my country,” Mr. Mirkovic says.

Housed in a once-abandoned medieval citadel nestled among Tuscany’s lush woods and golden hills, Rondine every year hosts about two dozen students