Trieste per Tutti, for a barrier-free tourism

30 June 2019Leave a comment

In Italy, there’s a city where, walking around its streets, you often feel like being in Austria or in a Middle-European city. This city is Trieste, full of history, art, culture (a name for all, Italo Svevo), sport tradition. Since a few years, the city is particularly committed to accessibility and chances to make its architectonical and artistic heritage available for everyone. This is confirmed by”Trieste per Tutti” (Trieste for All), the project supported by the city Municipality to promote a barrier-free tourism, without architectonical or cultural limitations.

The Municipality in Unità d’Italia Square

On “Trieste per Tutti”, you can find useful information for both tourists and citizens with a disability or special needs to plan an “accessibility-proof” visit of the city: from hotels to restaurants, from monuments to public interest locations, etc. The available information is also obtained through the cooperation of users based on their own experience. On the website, you can find details about the accessibility of taxis and public transports, for instance, as well as a selection of accessible hotels and hostels, with details about the available services and the possibility to directly contact the facilities for more specific requests.

Miramare Castle

Of course, Trieste per Tutti also includes a section devoted to locations of historical and cultural interest in the city: from the majestic Miramare Castle to the Risiera of San Sabba, not to mention churches, museums and theatres. Each location sheet includes details about architectonical barriers and facilitations available in the buildings and nearby, as well as information about the accessibility of public transports and their nearest stops. Hence, whatever you need to enjoy your stay in the city without any nasty surprise!

Of course, should you have particular needs, you’d better get directly in touch with the locations you wish to visit: maybe you’ll discover additional services that, at the moment, aren’t specified on the website and -why not?- share this information to help other users. Enjoy your stay in Trieste! 🙂

ParmAccessibile: Jessica and Matteo’s challenge

13 May 201813 May 2018Leave a comment

Everyone of us daily faces various architectonical barriers. They can be pointed out and overtaken through everyone’s commitment and cooperation. This is the starting point of “ParmAccessibile: itinerari accessibili di Parma e dintorni” (“Accessible Parma: accessible itineraries in Parma and its surroundings“), the fundraising launched by Jessica Borsi and Matteo Salini, two young from Parma with a motoric disability, in cooperation with ANMIC (the National Association for Amputees and Legally Disabled People), with the goal to make an “accessible” guide of Parma and its surroundings, mainly for people with motoric disabilities.

Matteo and Jessica

The two guys had previously created parmaccessibile.org, a web portal that’s become a reference point for who’s looking for accessible tourism solutions in Parma and its surroundings. Now, it’s time for the next big step: in view of 2020, when Parma will be the Italian Capital City for Culture, Jessica and Matteo want to make sure that as many citizens and tourists as possible can access the many initiatives that will take place. From here, the idea of “ParmAccessibile”, a paper and digital guide, that will be distributed for free both to tourists with a disability and to elderly and families with little children, and whoever, for any reason, needs to pay a bigger attention to accessibility. In particular, will be mapped paths in the monumental Parma, including the most touristically interesting sites, for instance: the Cathedral, S. Giovanni, piazza Garibaldi, piazzale della Pace, Teatro Regio, or in the surroundings of Parma, for accessible tours immersed into nature.

how to fund “parmaccessibile”?

But such an ambitious project costs. So, to fund it, Jessica and Matteo have chosen the crowdfunding. ‘Til the end of June 2018, signing up to the Becrowdy platform, everyone of us will have the chance to chip in to make this useful project come true. All the contributors will receive a little reward, based to the amount of their contributions. Even businesses, in view of a 500 € contribution, will see their logo in the Sponsors section of the guide.

Would you like to have more info? On the Becrowdy page devoted to ParmAccessibile, you can also find details about how the collected funds will be splitted.

Contributing is worthwhile, isn’t it?

“Interno Verde”: Ferrara gardens open to everyone!

25 April 2018Leave a comment

Spring is, par excellence, the season of “rebirth”. After the long winter rest, nature reawakens, flowers blow, the naked trees cover with leaves… Would you like to enjoy this evocative show discovering the secret gardens guarded by the old town of Ferrara, furthermore without worrying about accessibility? If your answer is “yes”, “Interno Verde” is the event for you!

Thanks to this event, organized by Il Turco association, on May 12^th and 13^thmore than 60 secret gardens of Ferrara will be open to the public, who will have the chance to enjoy those secret islands, rich in suggestions and memories, through which you can read the story, the changes and the events lived by the city.

The “Interno Verde” festival, that this year reaches its third edition, pays a lot of attention to the needs of visitors with motoric limitations. On the map delivered to who registers to the event, a symbol placed next to every address will specify the accessibility degree for people with motoric issues, specifying if the location is fully accessible autonomously or you’ll need a companion to help you. However, the event staff will always be at the attendees disposal to ease their entry and visit. Furthermore, the detailed report of the spaces involved in the 2018 edition is almost completed: it will include pictures and descriptions of the festival locations, plus the nearest parking lots. Don’t you use the car and, for you, public transport is tricky? You can count on the “Muoversi” and “Giuseppina” services, provided by the Municipality of Ferrara and addressed to people with a disability aged between 18 and 65 and over-75 elderly people, respectively. For more information about how to use them and their costs, you can refer to this page.

how to register to “interno verde”?

You can register to “Interno Verde” going to the “Il Turco” association offices or at the festival infopoint or at another of the points distributed all over the city (their complete list is available here). If you live outside Ferrara, you can register online, on the festival website. All the registered people will receive a kit including: the bracelet that works also as entry pass, the map of the open gardens and the book with historycal, architectonical and botanical info about the gardens, plus unpublished photos, illustrations, ancient maps and more.

how much does it cost registering to “interno verde”?

The amount requested to register to “Interno Verde” is 10 € per person (the cost is slightly higher for online registrations, based on the amount of reserved entries), 5 € for disabled people, while their companions and children up to 13 benefit from free entry. Groups of at least 25 people can benefit a reduced cost entry at 8 € per person, that can be reserved sending an e-mail to info@internoverde.it.

AT Campania: the portal of accessible tourism in Campania

28 March 2018Leave a comment

We’ve underlined many times how important it is, for the inclusion of people with a disability, increasing the availability of solutions ensuring an accessible tourism. This is the purpose of the AT Campania web portal as well, that’s been presented in these days in Naples by the local Rotary Club, together with Unione Italiana Ciechi (Italian Blind People Union).

The goal of the AT Campania portal is to collect the accessible tourism solutions already active in the region and contributing, together with some collateral initiatives (seminars, conventions, events about accessible tourism) to boost the awareness of who works in this industry and of the entire community towards the need to create a world that can actually be suitable for all, regardless of any disability.

Naples

The AT Campania portal doesn’t just collect the info about accessibility of tourism structures and services active in the region (museums, restaurants, monuments, etc.), but also enables the users, through a free registration, to leave public reviews about the listed structures, so that they can share their direct experience with the other visitors of the website.

Amalfi

So, the accomodations will have the chance to let their accessible tourism offer be known by a wider audience, including also that share of tourists who are, too often, still ignored by the market, due to the persistence of bias and architectonical and cultural barriers.

Sorrento, Villa Cimbrone

There are plenty of reasons to visit Campania: the cultural, archaeological and environmental heritage of this region is very wide and able to satisfy everyone’s needs and tastes. Having the chance to enjoy it without worries about accessibility is essential, indees, to live a peaceful holiday.

Vesuvius

AT Campania has just started, but there are all the premises to make it grow and become a reference point for the tourism in Campania, starting from the dedication of its promoters. Let’s create our account on the website and share our experience: a more accessible world for everyone is possible, if every one of us does his own part!

Milanopertutti, to discover the accessible Milan

17 October 201716 March 2018Leave a comment

Presented a few days ago, Milanopertutti is live starting from today. This new web portal is part of a project promoted by Milan Municipality, companioning with various Lombard associations promoting the disabled people needs, with the goal to provide tourists with a disability or specific needs with useful info to enjoy their stay in the city.

The site is very easy to navigate, since it’s been designed complying with all the accessibility standards. There you can find info about accessibility of museums, monuments and churches having an historic and artistic value, in addition to data and links about the accessibility of the urban public transport, the most important railway stations and airports of the city, as well as tips about accessible itineraries and events, to satisfy every kind of tourist’ needs.

The portal pays a lot of attention to the deaf people needs: they can benefit from a video in LIS presenting the project and a dedicated section, with useful contacts and apps to enjoy the city without too many worries.

Milanopertutti represents another step forward in the commitment of the city to actually became “for all”, that led the city to receive the “City Access Award 2016”, appointed by the European Union to the city that stand out for their commitment to improve their accessibility.

So, is everything fine? Not exactly. There’s still a lot of road to walk, so that the city effectively becomes “for all”, both for tourists and people who live here or come daily for business or study reasons and still face too many architectonical and cultural barriers, which are hard to dismantle: services that aren’t widespread yet (for instance, elevators in the subway stations or ramps and lowered platforms on buses and trams) and that, often, even where they are, suffer from an insufficient maintenance (both in terms of functionality and, simply, of cleaning and decency), offices, shops and meeting and leisure places struggling to become really accessible to everyone, etc.

We often think that, so that a city (not just Milan) can really be “accessible”, you simply have to put ramps and elevators here and there (and that’s important, indeed!). But we all might learn to look at the spaces with the users’ eyes, considering that not all the disabled people use wheelchairs. So, for instance, the ramp, that’s fundamental for people using a wheelchair (of course, if it’s designed correctly), for those who walk on their own legs, but need to use crutches (or other similar aids) can represent an even more insuperable obstacle, compared with a simple step.

Milanopertutti has just started its journey, so, for the moment, I just welcome this new tool. But I cannot avoid wishing that, over the years (hopefully, not centuries) it could grow and answer the autonomous mobility needs of all the disabled people, and not just them. Since we can’t forget this: a city (and, broadening our focus with a little bit of ambition, a world) fitting for all isn’t just good for a limited part of the community (disabled and elderly people, children), but represents an advantage for the whole community.

Barrier-free Apulia: one region, a lot of itineraries

2 July 201716 March 2018Leave a comment

Contrary to what we usually think, attention to everyone’s needs and, in particular, to accessible tourism is wide spreading in Italy too. We’ve already seen some examples, from North to South, including the islands. Today, our “virtual tour” stops in Apulia, “Italy’s heel”. A region rich in history, art, postcards landscapes, culture and – not a bad thing, indeed- culinary tradition. Hence, everything you could wish for your holiday!

Lecce

The official web portal or the Apulia Region tourism has a section fully reserved to accessible tourism, where you can find info about how to move, where to sleep, where to eat, events and monuments that are accessible to everyone (including our pets!). Furthermore, there are also some “for all” itineraries, to discover and enjoy the treasures of this region without worrying about accessibility.

Torre dell’Orso

Bari, the Apulia county seat, has made accessible to people with motoric disabilities not just its airport and railway station, but also important monuments such as the St. Nicola’ Basilica, the St. Sabino’ Cathedral, the Swabian Castle and the Province Gallery. Also, the old town centre (“Bari vecchia”) presents a path that’s accessible to people with motoric disabilities. But they thought about visually impaired people needs too, with a “light path” enabling them to safely enjoy the city centre.

Salento, the sea stacks

When you say “Apulia”, you immediately think about Baroque and, first of all, Lecce. This wonderful city is always more accessible as well, thanks to an itinerary including monuments with artistic value such as Porta Napoli, the Cathedral, the Carmine church, St. Oronzo’s square (which is only partially accessible), the Theatines’ monastery (accessible with assistance) and Carlo V Castle. Going outside the city, you can enjoy the beauty of the Rauccio’ park, the Cesine’ oasis and beaches equipped to guarantee accessibility to everyone. You can also find accessible itineraries for Otranto, Gallipoli, Ostuni and many more “pearls” of this magnificent region.

Otranto

Are you ready to leave, to visit it for the first time or to get back there? Share your experience here: it could be useful for other travellers!

Accessibility: Kimap maps Bologna too

21 May 20172 March 2018Leave a comment

We already talked, some time ago, about Kimap, the digital ecosystem developed by Kinoa srl aiming to map the architectonical barriers in our cities, paying particular attention to the accessibility for people with a motoric disability. After Florence, now it was Bologna’s turn. Here, the mapping process involved the streets that, starting from the Central Station, lead to the most important monuments and the centre of the city and the university area. Overall, the Kimappers mapped the accessibility of about 8 km of streets daily traversed by tourists and citizens.

Mapping of the centre of Bologna

The green dots represent a good level of accessibility for the street, the yellow ones indicate small obstacles and vibrations averagely impacting on the path, the red ones indicate a danger registered through very emphasized vibrations of the wheelchair and through obstacles or stairs that are difficult to avoid. Then, the red symbol with the wheelchair indicates the presence of architectonical barriers, the purple one with the skittle the presence of a temporary obstacle, while the orange symbol signals a slope that’s hard to traverse.

As always, all the job has been carried out with the precious contribution of the Kimappers, the community of users and volunteers (whose number constantly grows) who daily share paths, obstacles, experience and tourist itineraries that are accessible also for people who, to move, uses a wheelchair or other aids.

The Kimap project sure doesn’t stop here: the next steps include the release of the free app on the most important stores for mobile devices and further tests in the most renowned tourist cities in our Country. The next stage has been decided already: i twill be Rome, our capital city, that attracts millions of tourists from all over the world. A big challenge, indeed, given the particular features of the wonderful (but not very accessible indeed) “eternal city”!

We’ll talk about it for sure on this website, of course: stay tuned!

Is Venice accessible? Yes, more and more!

12 February 201715 March 2018Leave a comment

We’re approaching the Carnival climax and, in Italy, “Carnival” means, first, Venice, with its masks wearing very elegant and refined costumes. Who wouldn’t like enjoying that show live, at least for once in his life? Not to mention the other thousands of reasons to visit one of the most fascinating cities in Italy and in the whole world, that yearly attracts tourists from all the continents.

Yes, indeed: but Venice, with its streets, bridges, all that water, doesn’t exactly seem to be a synonym of accessibility, for people living with motoric or visual disabilities. This, at least, apparently. Actually, doing some search, I discovered that, in the last years, even the city immersed into the water is very committed to accessibility. Sure, we’re still talking about a city with an ancient structure and, by its nature, fragile, so it’s impossible to make too drastic interventions to reduce architectonical barriers. But it doesn’t mean that no intervention is possible, as the city administration’ work shows.

Today, thanks to the commitment towards public transport and minimization of the architectonical barriers that, until a few years ago, made it actually “off limits” for disabled people, about 70% of the old town centre of Venice is accessible to who has a motoric disability. The Città per Tutti Service and the EBA (Architectonical Barriers Removal) Office of the city have designed a map of accessible Venice, downloadable for free in PDF format from the Municipality website. This document summarizes useful info and practical tips enabling people with motoric disabilities to visit the city.

The map highlights the accessibility of the isles which make up the city, based on the availability (or lack) of public transport lines, using different colours to mark the areas which are accessible by steamboat (in green), those accessible by motorboat or having an “assisted” bridge (in light green) and those that aren’t accessible by public transport vehicles (in white). But it isn’t all! On the map, you can also find info about:

municipality info points;
tourism terminals (railway station, airport, marine station);
parking areas;
public navigation transport stops;
public bathrooms;
assisted bridges

Furthermore, on the Municipality website, you can also find accessible itineraries, with details about the accessibility of monuments, buildings and attractions, so that you can avoid unpleasant surprises once you’re there. Any doubt or question? You can send an e-mail to cittapertutti@comune.venezia.it or submit your request filling the online form.

And there’s even more! If you don’t want to miss the chance to enjoy a romantic tour by gondola, you can benefit from the “Gondolas4All” service, a simple and, at the same time, smart way to remove an architectonical (and not just it) barrier between the disabled tourists and the chance to enjoy the beauty of Venice also from the sea.

“Pompei per tutti”: the digs are (at last) accessible

1 December 201623 March 2018Leave a comment

2016 ends with good news: starting from December 2^nd (in time for the World Disability Day, not just an accidental coincidence, and, for sure, a meaningful one), will finally start “Pompei per tutti” (“Pompeii for all”), a 3 km itinerary that will enable people with motoric disabilities, little children and elderly people, but also blind and partially-sighted ones, to enjoy one of the most famous and visited archaeological sites in the world.

Thanks to the new clay floor on sidewalks and uncovered areas, plus some steel ramps, removable and respectful towards the site’ structure and historic value, everyone can now visit Pompeii with no risks. The “Pompei per tutti” itinerary twists and turns from the Porta Marina entrance to the Amphitheatre, alongside Abbondanza road, with the chance to access the most interesting domus and the most meaningful buildings in the site, for a total of 20 monuments. It will be possible to visit the Giulia Felice’s complex, the Venus in the Shell’s house and the Octavius Quartio house, both opened again in March, or the Ephebe’s house, the Cryptportico’ and the Sacerdos Amandus’ ones, that can be visited since December 2015. It will also include the Fugitives’ garden, the Faun house and the Dioscuri’s house, to reach the tower closing Mercury road. The itinerary also leads to the Court, with the chance to walk the most part of the portico, from the Basilica to the Venus Temple.

“Pompei per tutti” will be the most extended assisted itinerary to visit an archaeological site, in Italy. We hope it won’t remain a unique case, but only the first of a long list, since Italy is, as a matter of fact, an “open air museum” that everyone, including people with disabilities or reduced mobility, has the right to enjoy and admire.

For more information and to best organize your visit to the Pompeii archaeological site, please refer to its official website.

Enjoy!

Tuscany: barrier-free art, culture and nature

9 November 201615 March 2018Leave a comment

Have you watched the TV series about the Medici family and, now, wish to revalue Tuscany? If you’re looking for a destination that’s rich in alternatives able to satisfy everyone’s taste and needs, with special consideration for accessibility, this is the right place! Indeed, despite the medieval structure of many cities, the region has been committed for years to ease the life of residents and tourists with reduced mobility.

Florence

Let’s start from the Tuscany county seat, Florence, one of the richest cities in history and art, not just in Italy. Moving into the city through public transport is advisable, since both buses and trams are fully accessible both for people with motoric and sensory disabilities. As regards monuments, museums and other attractions to visit, you are only spoilt for choice. The most important churches in the city (starting from S. Maria del Fiore Cathedral) are accessible to everyone and can be visited for free. Are you interested in museums? The Uffizi have elevators to ease the access for visitors with motoric disabilities and a tactile route for blind and partially-sighted people. For deaf visitors, we must recommend “InSegnami l’Arte”, an ad hoc route inside the museum, with guides and educational videos in sign language. Palazzo Pitti’s Museum is accessible as well, without too many issues, thanks to the presence of elevators: by the way, it’s advisable to contact in advance the staff, so that someone can open the door which communicates with the galleries, that’s normally locked up. Do you want to have a tour at Boboli’s Garden? If there’s someone helping you, it won’t be too hard. Furthermore, keep in mind that most of the city museums can be visited for free by disabled people and their companions (even jumping the queues!), just showing your invalidity certificate.

Sienna, the Palio

Would you prefer to pop round to Sienna, maybe for the Palio, that attracts thousands of tourists at Piazza del Campo and its surroundings? Here as well, churches and museums have been adapted to make them accessible and usable also by disabled tourists (apropos, I recommend you the interesting and evocative “Turismo dei Suoni”- “Sounds Tourism”- project, aiming to enable also visually impaired tourists to enjoy the most important attractions in the city) and by families with children.

Pisa, Piazza dei Miracoli

I bet you won’t miss Pisa, with its suggestive Piazza dei Miracoli and the very well-known leaning tower, right? The square can be reached also by car and, once you’ve arrived, the accessibility to each step of the museum itinerary (Baptistery, Cathedral, Tower and monumental Cemetery) is granted by ramps and tactile routes. Unfortunately, the leaning Tower interiors aren’t accessible to people with motoric disability, but you can always enjoy it from outside!

Maremma

But Tuscany doesn’t just mean art and history. The region also offers a great number of parks, oasis and protected forests and most of them are fully accessible, thanks to itineraries designed to satisfy every kind of visitors’ needs.

There would be many more to say about the accessible beauty of this enchanting land. For more info also about other destinations, you can refer to this website, in addition to those of the local administrations. There is nothing left for me to do but wish you a nice holiday!

Move@bility

Idee per un mondo a misura di tutti

Tag: Italy