Il Chicco
The "Il Chicco" community was born in 1981 when Guenda and Anne started living with two children with disabilities, Fabio and Maria in their small house in Ciampino, near Rome.
Over the years, the
community has grown. Today it is made up of three family homes (called “focolari” or hearths):
il Chicco (The Grain), la Vigna (The Vineyard) and l'Ulivo (The Olive Tree). In
addition to Fabio and Maria, now adults, these homes now house 18 other adults with disabilities who live
together with assistants and volunteers from all over the world.
Next to these hearths is the Germoglio
(the Bud), home to laboratories in which various activities take place,
including: yoga, judo, physiotherapy, ceramics, paper making, horticulture,
sensory stimulation activities, a swimming pool and music therapy.
For 40 years, Il Chicco has been a branch of L’Arche, an international federation founded 55 years ago, and today
present throughout the world, branching out into about 150 similar communities.
The community wants to emanate
the message that a truly human society must be founded on welcoming and
respecting people of all abilities. It is founded on building relationships
between people of different intellectual levels, social origins, religions and
cultures, and on the value that people with disabilities are just as deserving
of all of these things as anyone else.
The community knows that people with disabilities often embody a welcoming
spirit, wonder, spontaneity, and truth. Through their disabilities, they have
the gift of touching hearts and calling to unity. Community life is also
founded on the awareness that the vulnerabilities of people, far from being an
obstacle to their union with God, can favor them.
The
Il Chicco structures are located in a green area of Ciampino, in via Ancona 1.
The economic and administrative management of the community is guaranteed
by the Arca-Comunità Il Chicco Association, ONLUS.