The Fattoria I Graffi
The Casa Cares Children's Home
Cares: Meeting Center and Vacation House of the Waldensian Church
The Waldensian Church
The Fattoria I Graffi was developed in the 18th and 19th century by the Quaratesi family as a traditional Tuscan farm. The farm was sold in the beginning of the 1900's and the new owners made various modifications including the relocation of the olive press and the development of a storage cantina under the park.
After the last war, new owners took hold of the farm, but with the end of share cropping it would have taken a significant financial investment to make the necessary transformations. In the late 60's, then, the owners decided to divide and sell everything.
Through the work done in restructuring the villa, and through speaking with those involved in the past of the Fattoria I Graffi, many interesting bits of history have come to the surface, but a deep research into the past of the Fattoria I Graffi is still missing, and we would certainly be grateful to those who would give us a hand in uncovering a bit more of history.
The Casa Cares Children's
Home
Up until about thirty years ago, Italy maintained the world's highest percentage of children in institutions. This phenomenom was closely linked to the country's history of social service that, for centuries, had been entrusted to the church. Since the late 19th century, social services for families developed almost exclusively in the form of institutes for children of the poor or as boarding schools for children of higher economic status.
In this context came the birth of institutions founded by evangelical protestant churches and by individuals associated with them. Casa Cares was founded in 1962 by a group of friends from various evangelical churches under the leadership of an American pastor. The work began in Florence, but in 1970 a move was made necessary because the rented city villa was sold.
After evaluating a number of possibilities, the institution finally arrived at the Fattroria I Graffi. It was not thought to locate the institution very far from the city, but it was a period when lthe share croppers were abandoning the fields for work in factories and, as a consequence, many old farms were being broken up and the pieces sold cheaply. It was also a time before the masses began discovering the beauty of living in the countryside. With gifts and donations, the central buildings of the Fattoria I Graffi were bought along with five hectares of woods and four hectares of olive trees. On January 1, 1971, the Casa Cares "family" moved into the Villa I Graffi.
Then, just as with the traditional system of sharecropping, the antiquated system of social assistance also found its time coming to an end. The Italian regions initiated more modern programs of adoption and foster care. There were fewer children and simply a general elevation of social well being. Casa Cares, as an institute for children, completed its service in 1975.
Cares: Meeting Center and Vacation
House of the Waldensian Church
For some years, the use of the villa became very limited. Two supporters (Gioele Mongiovetto of the Bretheren Church in Piemonte and Giulietta Nunzi of the Methodist Church in Florence) offered to care for the property as much as possible. Finally, after years of having no children to assist, the directive committee decided to do something before the whole thing degraded any further.
The property was offered to the Waldensian Church because the church was known for its sense of social responsibility and for its serious administration. The church considered the offer for some time before accepting the donation, well aware of the many risks and the significant amount of work involved. In the end, though, the offer was accepted (in the early 80's) and gradually the work began that continues today.
Since 1985, Antoinette and Paul Krieg, invited by the administrative body of the church (the Waldensian Table) to return to Italy, have managed Casa Cares as a center for meetings and hospitality aimed primarily at Italian and foreign church groups. Licensed with the Comune of Reggello as a "Vacation House", Casa Cares has available 18 bedrooms with a total of 55 beds. There are rooms for meetings, a dining room, and a library. Other groups, such as school, therapy, and art, also utilize the facility as well as do single guests.
In the recently remodelled farmhouse next to the villa lives the Krieg Family along with the staff of co-workers, mostly volunteers, who in the past years have come from Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Poland, Hungary, Sweden, Norway, Finland, the United States, Slovakia, England, and Australia.
The third building, formerly the chapel and olive press areas, is currently in a period of disuse, but the hope remains to bring it back to life as a multi-use chapel and meeting rooms. In old, underground cellars are foreseen a new kitchen and dining hall. The projected restructuring should incorporate a design that is sensitive to the environment and that is consistent with Casa Cares' position as "caretakers of creation" and with the idea of sustainability.
The other hope of the center is to provide space for and to promote dialogue between people coming from different places with different ideas and beliefs.
An attempt at church reformation led by Valdo da Lione and a group of friends at the end of the 12th century , the Waldensian movement had in its development some fundamental characteristics: poverty, the refusal of the link between the church and the state, and the concept of free reading and preaching of the Gospel, in modern language, by any believer, man and woman.
Condemned as heretical, the movement spread clandestinely throughout Central Europe. The Waldsensians, never sectarian, were assimilated in some countries by the Protestant Reformation while in Italy it transformed itself from a movement into a church in 1532. The Waldensian community manages itself at all levels with assemblies that debate and discuss problems, make decisions, and elect those responsible and delegated.
The Church meets in the Synod every August at Torre Pellice in the historical Waldensian Valleys southeast of Turin. The local community believes and preaches that which is taught in the Holy Scripture in accordance with the rediscovery of the Gospel as it was carried out during the Reformation. The Church maintains a strong obligation to social responsibility.
