Acronym

I recently returned from a trip to Italy for a family wedding; the photo above was taken in Siena. It’s a small part of the façade of the beautiful duomo (cathedral) there.

While we were visiting the duomo and I was geeking out over the historical significance of various statues and engravings (I was a religious studies major), I noticed the term “OPA” all over the place, both on the façade and inside. Then I remembered that I had also noticed it at a smaller duomo in Volterra.

I was fascinated. Was it a doctrinal term I wasn’t familiar with? A Da Vinci-code-esque secret password? A really prolific medieval construction company?

As it turns out, it’s a shorthand form of “opera della metropolitana”—“cathedral works committee,” in English. Siena wasn’t unique in having such a group; the opera of the duomo in Florence commissioned Michelangelo’s David (and, after seeing it, offered to build him a house and a studio in which to create future work).

While it appears that these groups were more formal than a typical association committee (possibly even part of a city’s government, at various places and times), I was still very impressed to see a committee’s role acknowledged in stone, so often and so prominently. The members of the opera created something that is not only visited for its beauty—it’s still used for its original intended purpose, nearly 800 years after it was built.

Perhaps a group of volunteers (or staff, or both) at your association could be inspired by the example of the opera of Siena. What great things can you aspire to build for the future?