Since its first steps as an organization, Centro Astalli has sought to guide and help refugees in their introduction into the working world. For over 10 years it operated a leather-working shop, where refugees made objects that were displayed at weekly exhibitions in Rome’s parishes. In 1999, after a number of professional training courses were offered on laundering skills, Centro Astalli facilitated the founding of a laundry service. In the beginning of May 1999, with all the machinery in place, the actual operation of the laundry center began in the space found inside the Chiesa del Gesù (Church of Jesus) in Via degli Astalli. This courageous experiment was started in a location loaded with history, connected to the heart of tradition of the Society of Jesus. Today the laundry service “Il Tassello”, a subsidiary economic activity of the Association Centro Astalli, daily keeps a group of refugees busy with the washing and distributing of flat linens (sheets and tablecloths) to restaurants, hotels, religious institutions and centri di accoglienza (reception centers).

This service is important not so much for the conquering of this “market niche”, but for the professional training it provides to many refugees before they search outside of Centro Astalli for work that represents true autonomy and the end of a path marked by assistance. In this vision, the fixed core of the laundry service’s staff works alongside a rotation of refugees to whom has been given apprenticeship contracts. Thanks to these contracts they are able to learn a marketable skill and build up their curriculum vitae. The laundry center is situated close to the exit door of Centro Astalli, next to that of the soup kitchen, where each day refugees and asylum seekers can be found entering for the first time. Its location symbolically represents the last piece of the path followed at Centro Astalli before one begins to walk on one’s own. Work is never lacking: between pick-ups and deliveries, the weekly rotation of the delivery van comprises about fifty stops.

The staff, with their diverse cultures, languages and experiences, live this environment of multicultural work naturally. Each day foreigners and Italians collaborate to better themselves and the service with mutual respect: at Centro Astalli, this is the vision that we imagine the society of tomorrow must embody.