ChildhoodDaniele Badiali was born in Faenza on 3rd March 1962 and was baptized on 8th March in the chapel of the Maternity ward. He belonged to a big family of farmers living in the countryside near Faenza. His parish church was in Ronco. His family included his father Luigi, his mother Giuseppina, his sister Alessandra and also his grandparents Domenico and Ida, his uncle and aunt Remo and Bruna and his cousins Gabriele and Maria Grazia.
He received First Communion in May 1971 and his Confirmation was in September 1973. His mother remembers him with these words: “He was a quiet child, he liked studying and reading. On Sundays Davide liked playing with his many cousins who came to our home with uncles and aunts. He liked singing and soon became keen on music and learnt to play the guitar with some private lessons”.
After middle school he attended a Vocational School for Agriculture in Faenza. In 1974 the parish priest in Ronco changed. The new priest was don Antonio Samorì, who is still there. He faced the post-confirmation crisis of the parish teenagers, including Daniele and his cousin Gabriele, by leading a small group of them to meet various experiences of volunteer work and by organizing summer camps for them in the Romagna Appennines.
About that period Daniele says:
“Until 12-13 years of age I lived quietly in in the parish of Ronco, together with other boys. My life was quiet and normal. One day I met some young people who worked for the poor. They made me come into contact with situations I had never imagined before. I did not know there were people in the world who starved to death. I had never lacked anything: my parents had always given me everything because they loved me. These young people showed me there were people who suffered and so I started wondering: what am I? Why do I live well while so many others live badly? I started asking myself serious questions about the reasons why I lived well and others lived badly. This is how things start: from what happens around us, one starts seriously questioning the reasons why things are like that”
