Since 1997 the Association Rondine Cittadella della Pace has been committed to the promotion of dialogue and peace through the experience of an International Hall of Residence which, in a suggestive medieval village in the province of Arezzo, in Tuscany (Italy), hosts young students of different cultures or coming from countries in conflict of the Balkans, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, the Middle-East and Africa.

The students experiment a shared life and training and, once they have completed their studies (degree course or masters), they go back to their countries of origin to testimony, in their places of professional and civil commitment, the real possibility of dialogue and reconciliation between different realities. The idea on which Rondine is based is, in fact, that of bringing together in a neutral context compared to their origins young students from countries in conflict who would be potential enemies in their home lands. This “forced”, but voluntary, life-sharing experience has demonstrated that contrasts and reciprocal mistrust tend to dissolve if taken out of the torn context in which they develop and that dialogue and co-existence are actually possible if they are based on recognized and shared values.

Rondine is open to men and women of any religion or faith in a spirit of confrontation free from prejudices and it is active in the cultural field through the organization of meetings, debates and events of particular local, national and international interest. One of these events is the International Conference of the Peoples of the Caucasus, asked for by the young Caucasian students present at the International Hall of Residence and organized in hopes of mobilizing human, cultural, spiritual and economic resources, in view of the identification of concrete paths and significant actions towards a new future for all the peoples of the Caucasus, the neighbouring populations, Europe and the world, in which to enjoy of a just and lasting peace.