Deborah Becker
๐ค SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
And there's a vineyard, winery, restaurants.
One of them is called Spaccio, S-P for San Patrignano's initials.
And the word Spaccio is Italian slang for drug dealing.
So somebody has a sense of humor.
When I visited, there were about 850 residents, and it's the residents who do all the labor.
And the profits from these enterprises are enough to fund more than half of the program's annual $26 million operating budget.
And Aisha, I was told the vineyard alone sells 400,000 bottles of wine a year.
Right, right.
So really, the residents work to pay for the program.
I took a tour of the vineyard and the winery with 29-year-old Lorenzo Leperoni, and I asked him why he had come to San Patrignano almost two years earlier.
At first, Leperoni says he didn't like the work in the vineyard, but now he feels it gives him a sense of accomplishment and purpose.
Well, the residents don't pay.
The treatment is free.
Most of the residents are from Italy or other parts of Europe.
About 10% are from the U.S.
Remember 20-year-old Michael, the resident from Detroit?
He says the experience is completely different than what it was like for him at the handful of programs he went to in America.
He says it took him a couple of months to go through the application process.
San Patrignano officials say they don't have a big waiting list and they screen people really well to make sure that they're motivated to change.
A potential resident has to convince them that they're committed to a new life without substances.