Rifugio: Christians of the Middle East

 The birthplace of Christianity lies in the Iranian slopes of Mount Ararat to Mount Lebanon . Since those ancient times the rugged valleys and gorges have served as a refuge for monastic communities and those in search of solitude. Nowadays 12 million Christians are suppo sed to live in the Middle East, but o nly few of them remain to live in the region because of r adical Islam and persecutions; m illions have relocated to the U . K . , U . S . A . and Australia. Between July 2011 and January 2014, Linda Dorigo and Andrea Milluzzi travelled around Iran, Lebanon, Egypt, Israel, West Bank, Gaza S trip, Jordan, Turkey and Syria. They were driven towards these small Christian communities that choos e to not be part of the diaspora. Whil e the Middle East is turned upside - - down by revolutions and by a fra c t ured war inside Islam, Christians became a religious mi nority, disillusioned witnesses closed in their self - - defense .