On Rome's Via Portuense, just behind the motherhouse of the Sisters of the Crucified, stands a large house surrounded by gardens. You enter through glass doors into a bright, colorful space filled with small beds, toys, storage bins, tricycles, and tiny chairs. A very small girl is receiving physical therapy. Another is having a snack. A third comes to greet us and show us around. We are at the heart of La Tenda—the home for children aged zero to six, created by Angelo and Maria Grazia. Seventeen years ago, this young couple married with one clear idea: not to limit themselves to family life, not to close themselves off in defense of their privacy, but to remain open and available to what happens around them, viewing their surroundings as their field of action.
The Beginning
A group home already existed there, housing young mothers in crisis. Children were born there who often needed to be placed with temporary guardians—a mom and dad for two or three years, five or ten months. Almost without fully realizing it, without lengthy deliberation, Maria Grazia and Angelo took in their first foster child, then a little girl, then another. Instead of frightening or discouraging them, those early experiences strengthened their resolve and their hunger to do more. Two of their first foster children found a permanent home in this family's heart. Manuela, now twelve, and Jessica, now nine, were adopted. With their parents, they embarked on a new adventure: a genuine licensed group home, with proper facilities and support, able to care for up to seven children aged zero to six—children whose families had been deemed by the courts "temporarily unable to raise them." This began on January 6, 1996.
Now
In the seven years since, many children have found temporary shelter under the Tent, some carrying an additional weight: physical or mental disability. Some stayed beyond age six, when it became harder to find a family willing to welcome them and care for them with love until adulthood. The home is run by Maria Grazia and Angelo—though Angelo continues his work as a physician—along with four full-time professional caregivers. Two psychologists and a social worker, together with the two directors, form the team that manages the home.
And then there are many precious volunteers, essential to the home's operation and to the children's activities. While the practical work requires no special schedule (there is always laundry, cleaning, ironing), entertaining the children demands clear rules.
Volunteers
Those wishing to spend time with the children must first have preliminary conversations to get to know the staff and be known by them. They must commit to one afternoon a week for at least six consecutive months and must accept the "educational approach" set by the team. They work through a trial period first. These are vital safeguards: children in this vulnerable period of their lives must be protected in every possible way.
The large, sheltered garden surrounding the house—partly paved, partly green—provides both protection and opportunity for outdoor life and play.
Connection to the Neighborhood
The children attend local nursery and elementary schools without major difficulty. But for everything to go smoothly, there must be ongoing contact with the teachers and classrooms. Catholic children attend the nearby parish of San Girolamo with Maria Grazia, while children from other faiths can avoid foods their families consider forbidden.
Hard Work, Real Struggles
So all is well under the Tent? Yes, but it takes enormous effort—Maria Grazia smiles—and we face real problems. Everything would be fine if the city paid the care subsidies promptly, and if we were always at full capacity. Everything would be fine if volunteers participated regularly in sufficient numbers (we have about thirty now, though once we had forty). Everything would be fine if, especially in the early days, it hadn't been so painful to say goodbye to the children we cared for as they moved on after age six or seven—returning to their families or entering adoption.
"But I learned," Maria Grazia tells us simply, "we learned, actually, not to attach ourselves to them wrongly. And we've learned so many other things—and we keep learning.
Our marriage, for instance, came under real strain from the work, from my total immersion in running the home. We couldn't find time for ourselves, and we realized that had to change. Recently, our daughters—now preteens—have been insisting that our family, the four of us, have our own space, our own part of the house. At first, despite warnings we'd been given, we thought it was beautiful to share every moment and every room with the children. Our love for them was so strong, our desire to share so deep. But experience teaches. And our daughters are right now to insist on a more normal life, on having a place to study, to have friends over, to listen to music. We've decided: we'll find a way to reorganize the house—thank goodness it's large enough. We'll create a wing just for us, for the girls' wellbeing but also, I'm now convinced, for ours.
Maria Grazia is calm despite this difficult moment, and clearly pleased with her daughters. Because—in the mysterious way of teenage girls—Manuela and Jessica, between their protests, have decided that Valentina, the cheerful little guest with a quick mind and great warmth, who lives with dwarfism and other physical challenges and won't easily find an adoptive family, should stay with them forever. She will remain with the family as a third sister for life.
What do you think of that? This is what happens when you live, always, "in contact with the world's needs."
An Invitation
A special invitation to all the friends of Rome—young and old—who have time to give or want to find it: reach out to Angelo and Maria Grazia's extended family. The Tent that inspired Peter's vision on Mount Tabor can become for us too the Tent that shelters us from the city's desert.
Casa Famiglia "La Tenda"
V. Portuense, 750
00153 Roma - Tel. 066554378