Casa Cares is a foresteria, one of the hotels, holiday houses and youth centers of the Waldensian Church which provide accommodation to individuals, families and groups, regardless of their religious beliefs, for overnight stays and holidays or organized conferences (www.foresterievaldesi.it).
The facilities have been providing hospitality for many years and their primary aim is to bring people together. Their locations around Italy allow guests to discover the historical, cultural and natural wealth of famous cites of art as well as that of smaller towns full of tradition.
The foresterie are non-profit facilities. Available income deriving from the accommodation activities goes to funding social and cultural initiatives, including those promoted by the Waldensian Church nationally.
“Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” These words from the Bible (Hebrews 13,2) underline that hospitality is the highest act of worship of which we are capable. Foresteria derives from the Latin “fores” which means outside, beyond the walls. The forestiero is a person who comes from outside, without family or home, a person who unexpectedly arrives and does not belong to your people, your race, your culture, your language. He or she is the person who comes to you unexpectedly, a stranger who who is to be transformed into a guest.
The roots of the Waldensian Church today are found in a 12th century reform movement. In the same period when the Dominican and Franciscan movements were incorporated into the Western church, the Waldensians were condemned as heretical and suffered persecution. Able to survive in hiding, the movement became one of the forerunners of the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century and developed into the Reformed church in Italy.
