The Children's Ten Rules
The ten rules of the garden, written for the children who play in it.
Three generations of Prete children have played in this garden. In the seventies the alley outside was the courtyard where we played football with the kids from the street.
Now yours play here, and that’s as it should be. These ten lines are for them.
Decalogo dei Ragazzi di Domus Prete
(How to have fun while respecting other people and nature)
Never on your own — Children must always be with an adult in the shared areas and in the garden.
Mind the gate — Don’t play or hang about near the pedestrian gate. People come through there.
Play, yes — wreck, no — Games are welcome, but safely, and without disturbing the other guests.
Flowerbeds are not shortcuts — Don’t walk across the beds: flowers take weeks to grow and seconds to ruin.
Trees are not for pulling apart — Branches are not knights’ swords or magic wands: respect them, they grow slowly.
Use your voice, not a shout — Talk to the person next to you; there’s no need to shout. Silence is a guest here too.
Leave everything as you found it — Toys, objects and shared spaces are used with care and put back afterwards.
Respect the other children — No fighting, no spite, no bullying: at Domus Prete the golden rule is kindness.
Watch where you run — Running is fine, but not in the shared areas or near the adults: safety first.
Enjoy Domus Prete with your head and your heart — You can be happy here, if you make other people happy too. Be kind, be careful, be part of what’s beautiful.
The cats
Cats live in the garden. They belong here more than we do.
Please don’t feed them: we take care of that, and a cat who learns to get food from guests then asks everybody.