Italian Chapel

The Italian Chapel is a lavishly decorated Catholic chapel on the Orkney Islands' Lamb Holm. It was erected during WWII by Italian prisoners of war who were kept on the previously deserted island while the Churchill Barriers to the east of Scapa Flow were being built. Only the concrete foundations of the other buildings in the POW camp remain. The chapel wasn't finished until after the war, and it was repaired in the 1960s and again in the 1990s. It is a renowned tourist destination and a category A listed structure.

It is located in Orkney's Roman Catholic Parish of Our Lady and St Joseph, which is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Aberdeen. On the first Sunday of each summer, Mass is held in the chapel (April–September). The chapel, which consists of two Nissen huts linked end-to-end, was built by the convicts using restricted resources in the shape of a tin tabernacle. The corrugated inside was then plasterboarded, and the altar and altar rail were built from concrete left over from the barrier work. Domenico Chiocchetti, a Moena prisoner, did the majority of the interior decorating. He painted the chapel's sanctuary end, and his other inmates adorned the whole inside.

They built a concrete front to cover the form of the hut and disguise the structure as a church. Corned beef tins were used to make the light holders. The baptismal font was created by covering the interior of an automobile exhaust with a coating of concrete. Chiocchetti stayed on the island when his fellow captives were liberated, finishing the decoration of the newly consecrated chapel.

Location: A961, Lambholm KW17 2SF, Scotland