Deborah Becker

And this dining hall was so beautiful.

Beamed ceilings, long wooden tables covered in checkered cloths, one wall of enormous fish tanks, and then on the other side, floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking this gorgeous view of rolling hills and farmland, and also the delicious smell of garlic.

Well, pasta, no surprise, with a pesto-type sauce the day I visited.

And there was prosciutto, cheese, roasted vegetables, chicken.

Wine used to be allowed at the meals.

But now it's only one glass a month to celebrate residents who have birthdays that month.

Yeah.

Well, I asked that.

They told me that if someone wants to relapse, they usually leave.

So then I asked, do you let them back?

And they said they would let them back.

But if it happens a lot, that person is not ready and they would leave.

The San Patrignano officials I spoke with say if someone's not motivated, they don't want their program to be added to what is likely a list of failures.

So they will work with people who are having trouble to a point.

There are enormous resources to help people get jobs and remain drug-free afterward.

A woman working in the laundry, Loretta Landon, she's 38 years old, dual citizen who grew up in Scotland and Texas.

And she told me she came to San Patrignano for treatment and for something more.

And really I had burned everything.

I'd burned everything.

I really was here alone in Italy with nothing and I needed help.