Casa della Carità “Angelo Abriani” Foundation

Casa della Carità (House of Charity)

Casa della carità, where hospitality becomes an expression of culture.

Casa della Carità “Angelo Abriani” Foundation takes care of vulnerable people and promotes culture, starting from the stories of those who come to our House every day.

The core activities of Casa della Carità are two, like two hearts beating at the same time: Accoglienza (Sheltering) – whose social activities guide people in distress towards a new independent life – and Accademia (Academy), which draws together all the Foundation’s culture-related activities being shared with all Milanese people.

This double effort was strongly wished by Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, the Founder of Casa della Carità.

“I will daily remember this House, what is being done here, the guests, the volunteers, the employees, since this House really deserves a lot”.

Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini
Founder of Casa della carità

Dignity and relationships

Casa della Carità believes in the dignity and uniqueness of each person, in the value of offering a listening ear, in the importance of relationships. We commit ourselves in creating a society which opposes the “culture of waste”. We believe that answering the needs of weak and excluded people generates for all wealth, cohesion and helps to increase urban safety.

Casa della Carità takes care of people who endured difficult experiences, who must deal with several problems at the same time and who find a welcoming place, a family, at Casa della Carità.

Every day, we host hundreds of people and we offer services such as free hot showers, a counselling centre, healthcare, legal advice and job orientation to many more. Casa della Carità works throughout the city of Milan with the elderly, the homeless, people having mental problems and people who live alone.

Hospitality and culture

Important ideas for the whole population blossom from the knowledge and the careful listening to the most vulnerable section of the population. Strongly holding to this conviction, the Academy of Casa della Carità promotes cultural initiatives and training sessions and activities.

The Academy includes the SOUQ – Study Centre, which operates at the academic level with universities and researchers and the “Biblioteca del Confine” (Boundary’s Library), which works on the ground with schools, San Vittore prison and other non-profit organisations.

Pictured left, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, a guest of the SOUQ study center in 2017.

The hospitality in the House

Casa della Carità is a real house, where guests, social operators and volunteers are linked together by an open relation of mutual trust and respect.

The house welcomes everyday 150 people: men, women, singles, families, Italians and foreigners are hosted in the house for a determined period of time, and are actively involved in their own social and economical re-integration project.

In fact, the people that find a shelter in the House, generally come from a condition of relational and economical poverty: our challenge is to give a concrete answer to their needs and to support their path towards social and economical inclusion.

The counseling center

The counseling center is open during week days, and it provides social assistance and psychological support to everybody who needs help. It is the very first place where everybody who knocks at the house door can be listened to and point out his/her real need: a shelter, a job, social or legal free support, medical or psychiatrical care or assistance. This service works in connection with the other services of the House and integrated with the public institutions and the non-profit associations of the city.

The legal guidance centre

It promotes equity and legal guardianship, and offers legal guidance to everybody who needs free legal assistance: guests of the house, people sent by the counseling center, roma people followed by the projects of the House or living in camps or irregular slums.

The shower and wardrobe service

It offers an essential service to everybody who hasn’t other chances of self-care: homeless people or immigrants living in slums or irregular camps. It offers the possibility of having a hot shower and receiving clean clothes three times a week, and it is a concrete chance for the operators of the house to meet and try to create a relationship to the people living in the most marginalized situations. Sometimes, through this service, the most vulnerable people knocking at the house door can find access to the other services of the house (medical or legal assistance, hospitality etc…), and to undertake a course toward their social and economical inclusion.

The medical and psychiatric ambulatory

Inside the House there is a medical and a psychiatric ambulatory, which provides free medical and psychiatric assistance to everybody who needs medical care or pycological support and can’t rely on the public sanitary service (in particular immigrants without regular documents and sanitary insurance).

Contacts

Fondazione Casa della Carità “Angelo Abriani”
10, Francesco Brambilla street – 20128 Milano
relazione@casadellacarita.org
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