More than a destination, a return to your origins.
A space that supports children and young people adopted abroad on their journey to reconnect with their Colombian roots.
Casa Alta is not tourism. It is a return.
Casa Alta is not just a place to stay. It is a space born from the soul. A bridge between continents.
A refuge for those who are not seeking rest, but answers. Here, Colombian children and young people adopted abroad do not arrive as tourists. They arrive as children returning home.
Returning to one’s roots is an act of healing.
Roots do not disappear. Even as time passes. Even when silence weighs.
Even when distance hurts..
Many adopted young people grow up with questions that dwell deep within: Where do I come from? Who do I resemble? What story flows through my blood?
Casa Alta was created to accompany these questions with respect, humanity, and care.
A space that listens, supports, and uplifts.
This project does not offer just accommodation. It offers presence. It offers guidance. It offers true listening.
It is a restorative space where nature embraces, silence soothes, culture reconnects, and memory finds a safe place.
Each stay is unique. Each story is sacred.
A space dedicated to adoptive families
Casa Alta has a home specially designed to welcome families of adopted children and young people. Here, you will find a safe, warm, and nurturing space, created to make the return to your roots and family reunions easier.
If you would like to learn more about our programs or plan your stay, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We will be happy to accompany you on this unique journey to your roots.
From healing a wound, Casa Alta came to life
Do you want to know more about David's story?
In this section, you will find the testimony of David Pagnotta, who was adopted in France as a child and who found his biological family thanks to the support of Óscar Ruiz, founder of Casa Alta.
Like many others, I grew up with deep questions about my identity, my roots, and my history. For years, I lived with the absence of answers and the belief that my biological mother had passed away.
But the desire to understand my origins was stronger than the fear.
In 2022, I decided to return to Colombia to search for my biological family. It was not a tourist trip. It was a journey toward the truth.
Accompanied by Oscar Eduardo Ruiz, founder of Casa Alta,I began a search that would change my life forever… and that would give birth to a mission greater than ourselves. What follows is not just a testimony. It is the true story that inspired the creation of Casa Alta.
Before leaving for Colombia, he was full of doubts, fear, but above all, an immense desire to know: Why had he been separated from his biological family? Why that emptiness all along? But he was not alone.
Oscar Ruiz, whom I consider an older brother, helped me enormously. He knew people in Colombia, and his aunt lived in Yopal, in the department of Casanare, not far from where my family had lived before.
That aunt was a true angel on my path; she knew the region, the people, the stories, the voices, and thanks to her, something incredible happened: she contacted the local radio station in Casanare and told them about a young man coming from far away in search of his mother and father.
The radio broadcast my story with a simple yet hopeful message: “A young man is searching for his biological parents. He wants to find his mother and his father.” That message traveled across the airwaves, the mountains, and the towns… and reached my mother. She heard it and wanted to see me. My father did too.
When I arrived in Colombia, my heart was beating faster than ever. The first encounter was with my mother, whom I believed to be dead, because that’s how I had grown up thinking. We saw each other for the first time in a church, a place of peace, silence, and faith, a sacred place. There, I saw her alive for the first time in my life. I cannot describe that moment with ordinary words: it was bigger than me. I was trembling, paralyzed, my heart exploding in my chest.
She looked at me, I looked at her, and for a few seconds nothing else existed around us. Just her. Just me. I felt joy, surprise, anger, release, tears… but above all, I finally felt complete.
Then I reunited with my father; it was a different emotion because I had spent some time with him in the past. He wasn’t a complete stranger, but we had been separated. That meeting, although less overwhelming than the first, was still very powerful. In his eyes, I saw the past, regret, tenderness, and silence. But he was there, and I was there, and it was real.