to his anti-fascist activities. From then on, Capitini tried to promote the reform of religion (starting from the Catholic, expanding to other denominations), with the aim of religion focussing on persons and their needs. He proposed that all religions should go beyond their dogmatism and their authoritarian structure to be at the service of marginalized people and those who had no voice in society. In 1930, he began working as a Secretary at the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. He became close to anti-Fascist students, as a professor being a conscientious objector. In 1933 the director of the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, the philosopher and Fascist intellectual Giovanni Gentile, asked Capitini to join the Fascist Party. Capitini refused and was dismissed. He then applied himself to nonviolent non-cooperation. In order to survive, he returned to his family in Perugia, where he undertook private lessons until the end of World War II in 1945. Capitini adopted the propagation of anti-Fascism as an important personal commitment from 1933 to 1943. To achieve this he met with groups of young people, especially in central Italy. This activity was facilitated by the publication of three books on philosophy and religion. The books were able to pass Fascist censorship because of the ambiguity of their titles, which addressed religious themes. Their publication was supported by the liberal philosopher Benedetto Croce, who, even though in disagreement with the Fascist regime, enjoyed a certain degree of freedom because of his international reputation. Capitini was imprisoned twice for five months for his anti-fascist activities from 1942 to 1943. In July 1944, with Emma Thomas (an English Quaker), Capitini founded the Centro di Orientamento Sociale (Centre for Social Orientation). The Centre began its activities in Perugia with free discussions open to all, about local issues problems and national and international political and economic problems. It was successful and spread to other cities, including Ferrara, Florence, Bologna, Lucca, Arezzo, Ancona, Assisi and Naples, but it failed to establish itself permanently because of the indifference of the Left and the hostility of the Christian Democratic Party. Post-war, 1946–1968 Capitini, despite his anti-fascist efforts, did not want to be part of the Cold War division of the world, mainly because he did not share many of the aspects of these two world views. He therefore remained isolated and was not able to play an institutional role in the nascent Italian Republic.