The Centri d’Accoglienza Straordinaria (Extraordinary Reception Centres for asylum seekers, CAS) managed by the provincial chapter of the Italian Red Cross, the protagonists of this chapter, were the most difficult ones for me to locate due to their remoteness and isolation. Although over time this proved to be extremely convenient for repeated informal visits, they were the only CAS that I first visited through a gatekeeper. This was Cristina, a sinologist by training, who worked as a mediatore culturale (cultural mediator) for the Red Cross, teaching Italian classes and performing administrative tasks across this subcontractor's facilities. In July 2017, she accompanied me to their San Lorenzo CAS (mentioned in Chapter 1), a place she knew well as she used to go there as a youngster to participate in the summer camps organized by her local church. She was proud to have returned there in a humanitarian capacity.

‘We have 27 people here’, Cristina told me during our visit there, ‘but there will be 33 soon, as we won the new Bando [Public Tender organized by the Prefettura]. Thirty-three is too many. Ideally, we should have 25. This is a good number to manage’. When I asked how decreasing San Lorenzo's occupancy by eight asylum seekers would improve their management, or indeed ameliorate the experiences of those residing there, she couldn't offer clear explanations. She did explain, however, how all new arrivals were sent there, before being transferred to the other CAS managed by her organization, depending on availability of places and good behaviour. She also recounted how, when the facility first opened, residents of this hamlet organized a meeting with the bishop, pleading for him not to authorize the opening of a CAS in the diocese-owned building.