It was 1976, and Alfedena became a founding memory for the Faith and Light communities. A new way to take a holiday—for some of the participants, their first ever.
Francesca Biondi opened her home to the group and shared her thoughts in issue 11/1976 of Insieme:
"Giving my house to others is the most natural thing. I've always believed that if I'm able to enjoy something, it's only right that others enjoy it too—otherwise I couldn't truly be happy with what I have. My own children see the house as belonging to everyone who lives in it.
"How did our Faith and Light friends leave the house? More beautiful, more alive, with a reason to exist. Every corner holds a memory—not mine alone, but something lived and shared, with or without me, in a bond I can't quite describe.
"Even from a distance, I was part of their days. Only our young people know how to make us feel that kind of unity—the deepest, truest part of ourselves."
We've recovered some photographs from that holiday, which you can browse in the gallery below.
The scanning was made possible by Samuèl Lopez Ruiz, a 28-year-old from Cantabria, Spain, with autistic traits. Samuèl spent a month in Rome, dividing his time between sightseeing and volunteer work at our office, helping digitize the paper archives we've inherited.
One treasure among many—to be shared, now, with all of you.