If we had the house full also in the winter months, we would solve one problem and have another. The solved problem would be, of course, that we could hire other persons for the between season maintenance. But then we would have to find the moment to do it! Many things cannot easily be done with a houseful of guests.
But we do have the person power already on the staff for the basic care of our historical buildings and the endless list of outside jobs. With the guidance of Beppe and Elisa in the villa and Giordano on the land we enter the winter phase of our work. Thankfully we have good volunteers in January (Kenneth, Drew, James and Melissa plus boys from the USA and Nele from Estonia) and others in the wings (Zsuzanna from Hungary and Franca from Germany). We certainly look forward to having Franca back, not only because she is a great worker and group member but because it would confirm that she is doing well after having left us abruptly due to health problems back in September.
These months are also busy with reservations, bookkeeping, and other administration, so we shall have enough to do. Bookings are good, mid-May through mid-July is particularly full. Anyone interested should not wait too long to check on other periods either.
Fortunately, we now can catch our breath and renew ourselves to welcome the first guests and to prepare the annual Waldensian celebration in mid-February.
Perhaps living in a rural setting helps us especially appreciate the need for rest and renewal. Obviously not in every job does one have the privilege to step back, reflect, and organize for the future! Looking back, we see a very positive year: good and enough guests and volunteers (as always!), progress on chapel renovation, no particular difficulties. Oops, another task! It is time for the annual newsletter, which should be available here on the site as the February up-date.
We wish you also the time for retreat, reflection, and renewal.
Che cavolo fai!? Not all phrases translate well. Che cavolo fai literally means “which cabbage do you make” but, when used by Italians, it rarely has to do with eating. It typically is an exclamation meaning “What are you doing!?” and is usually a heartfelt challenge. But the question is quite applicable at the moment for our kitchen as we have seven types of cabbage in our veggie garden (documentation of some varieties on “Photo Album”). Nature seems to stop on the land but obviously autumn is just the beginning of some necessary rest and in reality life goes on. Because of unseasonably warm weather, besides the cabbage for some weeks we still shall have six types of salad, leek and fennel. Too bad our guest season slows down because not many guests get to appreciate the fall production.
Each year presents itself differently on the land. Last year we harvested almost 6500 kg of olives, about 50% more than the previous highs of the last 20 years. This year? 1900 kg. The dry, sunny weather since March that the guests appreciated took its toll on the olives. But we are happy with our 350 liters of oil in the cellar. Also, with the harvest in by 20 November, time and energy are spared for work on the chapel renovations and the many winter chores on the land and in the villa that need to be dealt with before the 2012 guest season begins. This is the time each year when we sit together to see what income is available to apply to acquisitions and improvements. The list is always longer than the income in this historical villa, but some things will get done.
Having touched the subject of food, the current events in Italy could make one think of minestrone, the “big soup”. What a fascinating country Italy is to live in, to visit, to study and to try to understand. After 17 years as a huge presence in Italian political life, Silvio Berlusconi might be out of the picture. It will take years of analysis and argument to clarify just how huge a presence his has been. No doubt many persons are distraught by his departure, but most of those we know are relieved if not overjoyed. Maybe it’s a skewed opinion from life in Tuscany and with the Waldensians, both known for their skepticism and distrust of the powerful wealthy.
Minestrone can be rich, thick, and nourishing, but each batch is unique and you can never be really sure what the cook threw in. It is a fun challenge to try to figure out just what you are consuming. And Italy? — a fun challenge to try to figure out just what you are consuming!
Now that Berlusconi is out, what lies ahead? No one can tell, in part because of the whole new course of government by economists and technicians. Will they be successful? How long will this last? Certainly the basic resources and the basic problems remain. They were there before Silvio and continue on. The resources (please excuse the clichés) include the natural beauty, the creative and industrious people, the rich variety of deep sub-cultures, the immense historical and artistic heritage, the climate, and the geographical position. The problems include mistrust among regions, organized crime, the underdeveloped South, youth unemployment, and poor civic management. Just what is in this “soup” sitting on our table!?
Then there are elements that are too complex to list clearly as resources or problems. We can put them under the heading “Extra ingredients to consider”: the position in the middle of the Mediterranean and consequent relationship to Europe and the Arab world; the centuries-long complicity/antagonism between the State and the Catholic church; immigration and internal migration for work; the situations of employment, research, and education.
Many persons who visit have the chance to taste the Italian minestrone both in a literal and in a figurative sense.
Plans for projects to renovate and improve the structures below the villa have been ready for perhaps 12 years. First we looked for European funds. We might have a great project but without powerful political ties…. Then we asked for Italian State funds for the restoration of historical buildings. The first year we almost secured adequate funds and were told, “Next year.” Then the next year the government (they still had some funds at that time) blocked all such projects.
So we turned to the national church and to friends. This has gotten us going on the most essential improvement, the renovation of the chapel. We will go forward as funds become available, and by March of next year we expect to have a new space for our guests. The chapel, already known to guests who had time for a house tour, could be visited before but, due to the precariousness of the floor, was not available for activities. For the coming season the new floor, although in an unfinished state, will permit groups or individuals to use the large space for music, for theater, for meditation, for worship, for ????
This is a big addition to what we can offer our guests. You can see the first big steps in the process of renovation if you click on “Photo album” on the site homepage. After our bricklayers removed the old roof exterior tiles it was not a huge surprise when we saw that we needed to replace also the old beams. It would not have made sense to put a new roof on them. The expense of course increased considerably but we now have a beautiful chestnut beam roof that should last for many decades.
Then Giuseppe, our maintenance man, began to take the floor apart, with the help of volunteers. For centuries this was also the ceiling for the former olive press room. First they removed the tiles, then a layer of fill, then the rotten wooden panels and finally the cross beams. Today and for the weeks until the bricklayers return in winter we have a chapel with a spectacular roof and no floor. It is a sight to behold, something that no one has seen in probably 200 years.
It is our understanding that the chapel, as well as the villa itself, went through major renovation at the end of the 18th century. Before that the space evidently was already a chapel but still further back in time the records show that it had been a theater. It is a special space and we are very pleased to bring it back to its original use of 300-400 years ago while at the same time making it available again as a worship facility.
Enjoy the photos! And next year the chapel.
Casa Cares is defined in various ways, including an organic farm, a practical taste of eco-friendly life, an international experience, a Waldensian presence in the Tuscan countryside, life in historical buildings. Of course our first task is that of hospitality, but even for this there are several definitions. Technically we are a Casa per ferie, literally a house for holidays but actually something particularly Italian in that the term was created to define Catholic guest facilities. Our dozen or so Waldensian and Methodist centers placed ourselves under the umbrella of our Roman colleagues.
But we also call ourselves a meeting and retreat center. The usefulness of Casa Cares as a center for meetings is confirmed by the fact that the great majority of our overnights comes from groups to whom either we offer programs or who, much more frequently, conduct their own, whether church, school, art, therapy, music, reunions or some other reason for persons to come together.
The retreat part has been less evident. From our experience in Oikosnet (Association of Academies and Laity Centres in Europe), which includes global partners, we have come to realize the diversity worldwide in the approach to retreat. Spiritual retreat has been a heritage of Italy for centuries. With the exception of the British Isles, however, otherwise in Europe one does not often find structures for spiritual retreat, especially of laity, along the lines of what one finds in the United States and Canada.
Perhaps the nature of the Waldensian expression of faith, and that of Protestantism in general, has not valued enough the dimension of spiritual retreat. There is more commitment to action, to activity than to stopping or at least slowing down. But in the hectic, never-a-dull-moment world of today the need to retreat is becoming more important and valued, maybe often urgent. The interest in Western culture for yoga and meditation might be considered signs of this need.
Despite being one of the best months to be in Tuscany, September for us typically has been a slow month. So this year we combine our room availability with a discount offer, which we believe will appeal especially to persons who want or need to step back or step out for a moment from their routine or pace. The offer is one extra free night with breakfast every two nights booked (3 for 2, 6 for 4, etc.):
Room with bath, double occupancy, breakfast – 3 nights at 2 x € 34= € 68
Room with adjacent bath, double occupancy, breakfast – 3 nights at 2 x € 29= €58.
Main meal availability at € 13 will depend upon the number of guests at the moment.
God, faith and the like are serious subjects. One has to be careful when they are touched. But I liked the other day the reminder from Ted Remley, who has brought a university seminar to us for a number of years, of the Jewish saying, “Man plans, God laughs.” He shared this as he booked his groups through 2015.
We became Waldensians at the invitation of this small historical Reformed church of Italy. Just how disparate the Waldensians were in their search for persons to take over their new guest house adventure in the Tuscan countryside is confirmed by the invitation to Antoinette and to me, two foreigners who had not lived in Italy for 13 years. That’s already worth a laugh!
But just that ability to laugh, also at themselves, was one of the qualities that I learned to appreciate about the Waldensians. After all, you cannot take yourself too seriously when you number 40,000 in a country of 60,000,000! Other qualities I learned to appreciate were Bible scholarship and social commitment.
The ability of laugh, at least smile, however, has proven valuable in much that comes our way in managing Casa Cares as a meeting center and a guest house. First, the property is well beyond our control: huge, historical buildings and semi-abandoned farm land. That it feels like too much was already evident when the Waldensians at first refused the donation of the property in the early ‘80’s. I often tell visitors that it is like having a Ferrari without money for the gas. Nowadays it seems most persons understand and smile when they hear, “It is not a question of having something to do, the question is where to begin.”
Something to do, and soon, is get a roof on the chapel. It’s taking the usual longer-than-expected because the big support beams unexpectedly, but not totally surprisingly, have to be replaced. So the centuries-old chapel sits waiting without a cap and hoping for some more sunny days. It wouldn’t be bad, either, to find the funds to get beyond the new roof phase.
The grass gets too long; firewood needs to be cut; picking the olives only makes sense with volunteer labor; the park often looks unkempt; boars dig up the fields. Then in the villa something is always too old to carry on any longer; a good rain arrives through the roof tiles to a bedroom or two; water from the township can be in short supply; in winter we remember that the old windows are open even when closed. And so on. (Is this supposed to be a monthly note to attract guests?!)
By the way, the guests…. Now there’s a laugh. I mean, of course, with them. If it’s hard to understand each other in one language, try three or four. And if folks start relating their travel adventures and cultural false steps, it really gets to be fun.
Even the volunteers keep us laughing. There was the young German who, sent out to the garden to get a bit of parsley, came back with a huge bouquet of all of our basil. Or the American who doesn’t know what to do with his clothes that need to be hung out to dry.
All told, they say a good laugh is a pill of health. Lots of pills around here!
In Italy we know how to celebrate, but the past month was almost too much. April concluded with Easter and Easter Monday which by landing on the 25th was already the national Liberation Day; then followed a week later the 1st of May. Four holidays in eight days must be a record.
Previously there was another holiday, a new one, a one-time event. It was over a month ago on the 17th of March but it will be spoken about for some time. It commemorated the unification of Italy 150 years ago. However, this was a strange celebration because not everyone was in a celebrating mood. The Lega Nord refused to take part because they consider Italian unification at least a failure and especially for themselves a terrible event. If they could, they would cut Italy above Rome and drop the South into the Mediterranean; after all, the Southerners only waste the taxes paid by the hard-working North Italians with the complicity of the corrupt politicians in parliament. Of course the Southerners don’t always have much good to say about the hospitality in the North to where they migrated to build up Italy on the ashes of World War II. Et cetera!
The point made in these times by many authors and commentators is that Italy’s unification has not worked or that it is still a struggling process, perhaps doomed from the beginning. After the fall of the ancient Roman empire, the regions of the Italian boot developed in drastically different ways. It is generally thought that this was due to the effort of the other European powers to keep Italy weak in its division. In Tuscany one only has to feel the animosity today between Pisa and Livorno or between Siena and Florence to realize the challenge of putting of trying to put Veneziani and Palermitani under one roof, or Genovesi and Pugliesi.
Italy is well worth observing and studying. The diversity, the cuisine, the fine art (really 75% of that in the world, as one hears?), the layers of history, emigration-immigration, church, interesting characters like Silvio Berlusconi. Many books have appeared on the unification of Italy. These two give a good overview:
Gilmour, David. The Pursuit of Italy: A History of a Land, its Regions and their
Peoples. London: Penguin Books Ltd., 2011.
Duggan, Christopher. The Force of Destiny: A History of Italy since 1796.
London: Penguin Books Ltd., 2007.
Our guest season could not have started better than with the movement we had in March. With Easter late and uncertain end-of-winter weather we risked having a lonely, cold and wet time in the Tuscan hills. Instead Casa Cares was filled with guests, a representation of the typical guests we have in the course of a season. An eight-day university seminar got the ball rolling, followed by a work weekend among friends considering the future of Casa Cares. Then 30 persons on a ten-day Tuscan tour finished the month with the typical trips to Florence, Siena, San Gimignano, Pisa, Lucca, Chianti and a local outdoor market as well as excursions outside the region to Assisi and Venice. They even had time and energy to visit local churches and an olive press! It was a very satisfying and enjoyable month. Only single guests were missing but there would have been very little room for them anyway.
The workshop on the future of Casa Cares brought together about 40 persons from around Italy who have known us in various ways and at various times in our 28 years of guest house commitment. The event was not easy to plan but it was well worth the effort. The idea was neither to dwell on daily issues nor to plot radical changes in our mission. We concentrated on facing current and foreseeable difficulties while evaluating whether the course travelled until now should be continued. The positive answer was clear and enthusiastic. Simple and welcoming hospitality with commitment in social service and environmental care were confirmed for the future. Unfortunately for the practical purpose of language we missed the voices and enthusiasm of our foreign friends.
Certainly we must attract more groups and single guests and develop more contacts. Ideally we shall continue to be active in the local community. Improvements in accommodations are always possible, and the further development of the property is a priority. For example, after years of planning, finally we have begun work on the chapel renovations. The limited funds we have will only take us so far but hopefully to the point that we shall have another meeting and activity area to offer our guests.
One of the most encouraging outcomes of the weekend was the establishment, in some cases the renewal, of work groups for programming, property, the land, finances, staff and promotions. It remains to be seen how practically the enthusiasm of the moment will evolve, but the step is in the right direction because our small staff, very dependent on volunteers, never has been able to tend to all tasks at hand.
A NOTE ON THE CHAPEL Some friends have already responded generously to our appeal for donations but of course the request remains open. We also plan to renew our search for public funding for the historical building, which is over 300 years old in its present form. A curiosity is that Francis of Assisi, after whom the chapel was named, and Waldus of Lyon, the motivator behind the reform movement at the base of our Waldensian Chruch, were contemporaries. Also, the Franciscan mission began with the repair of chapels, Francis having had a vision in which Christ told him, “Repair my church.”
