«There's something about community that heals everyone—even those who by nature tend toward isolation. The agricultural setting, the rhythm of the seasons, they help people with relational problems, psychiatric struggles, intellectual disabilities. Learning job skills matters tremendously. Especially in hospitality. When families see their children put on a server's uniform and work the dinner shift from seven to one in the morning—that changes everything for them.» Laura Capantini speaks with a warm Tuscan lilt, emotion threading through her account of what Casa Ilaria has become. She is its current board president—«a house for everyone, to which everyone can bring something.» The project began in 2013 out of a simple need: the Pisa province had nowhere for young adults with intellectual, psychiatric, or social vulnerabilities to go after school ended. They had no path into a day center or regular employment. That gap demanded filling.
Casa Ilaria was founded to honor Sister Ilaria Meoli, born in Pontedera, a Carmelite nun, missionary, and doctor who died in 2007 in a car accident in the Central African Republic—she was thirty-six. Those who knew her decided to honor her memory with aid work in India and Latin America, supporting the people she had met on pilgrimages with Unitalsi to Lourdes, and then in her home region. That region, naturally devoted to tourism and agriculture, proved the perfect setting for what had motivated her life: a passion for «social justice.» First a Foundation took shape, then a Social Cooperative (led by Simone Brogi), making it possible to offer multiple pathways under one roof—each person finding genuine and full participation.
«At Casa Ilaria, everyone discovers they have something to give, and they give it together with others. No special skills required: everyone needs companionship, and everyone can offer it.»
Casa Ilaria works closely with local organizations serving families of people with Down syndrome or autism, though its programs remain open to those with psychiatric and social vulnerabilities too. While it partners with public services (which, as one staff member notes, «tend to put people in boxes, and that doesn't work for us»), real support comes from private donors—Catholic Church tithing funds, corporate gifts, and volunteer professionals who donate their time. They're currently restoring a beautiful Leopoldine-era farmhouse designed for guest accommodations, accessible and well-positioned near tourist centers like Pisa, Volterra, and Florence.
The orchard and vegetable gardens have yielded results for several years now, selling to solidarity purchasing groups. RistorAzione—a job-training program run with the restaurant Il Cavatappi—has placed workers; soon a café will open in the farmhouse itself. The pandemic slowed renovation of the larger building. But the chapel has already opened, the heart of Casa Ilaria where a community Mass is celebrated monthly, as has the multipurpose hall hosting creative workshops, expressive activities, and psychological support programs. These workshops, Capantini explains, welcome anyone who wants to come—no labels, no screening. «The paths that bring people to Casa Ilaria are many and sometimes mysterious,» she says. «Each person discovers they have something to give and can give it together with others. No special skills needed: everyone needs companionship, and everyone can offer it.»