• Emilia-Romagna

• Regional Parks

• Apennines - Urban Areas

An Accessible Park

According to a document of the European Commission, in Europe there are between 60 and 80 million citizens with "reduced mobility": out of them, about 5 million people travel and use tourist services.
We should also consider that we are all subject to a reduced mobility if we break a leg or an arm, or when we will be old; moreover, where a person using the wheelchair or a blind person can move, everyone can move in a better way: from a pregnant woman to the injured athlete, the cardiopath, to the elderly needing someone who helps them.
Thanks to a project entirely financed by Foundation Carisbo, it has been possible to improve the accessibility of the Regional Parks in the Province of Bologna, making some already existing trails accessible to people with reduced mobility and to blind people: the works have been entrusted to a social cooperative whose staff also includes people with psychic problems.
In order to carry out the project, the advice given by the Para - Quadriplegic Association of Emilia-Romagna section of Bologna (APR) and of the National Association for Blind and Visually Handicapped People (ANPVI), belonging to the Italian Federation for the Overcoming of Handicap of Emilia-Romagna (FISH - ER), have been very useful.
These associations, with their support, have given the opportunity to a group of disabled kids to offer, with their work, services for other persons with disabilities.

Two sites have been chosen in the territory of Gessi Bolognesi e Calanchi dell'Abbadessa Regional Park: a stretch of the nature trail "Gessi della Croara", near the Doline of Spipola (Municipality of San Lazzaro di Savena) and a route within the Organic and Holiday Farm "Dulcamara" (Municipality of Ozzano dell'Emilia, location Settefonti). The two areas have been chosen both for their morphological features enabling the creation of accessible trails and for their natural features.

Spipola Doline: along the nature trail "Gessi della Croara", the stretch leading from the rest area in location "La Palazza" to a small cave called "Buco dei Vinchi" has become accessible for disabled people in wheelchair and for blind people.
At the beginning of the dirt road marking the western edge of the Doline of Spipola, a parking area reserved to disabled people has been created; going ahead along the dirt road, you will reach the meadow where the accessible trail begins. It is characterized by wooden footbridges.
The route leads to a cave called "Buca dei Vinchi", where a wooden platform was built to give the opportunity to observe the access to the small cavity. Moreover, there are two didactic panels providing information on karstic phenomena and on meadows crossed by the trail.

Dulcamara: within the Holiday Farm managed by Coop. Dulcamara in Settefonti (Ozzano Emilia), there is an accessible trail giving people with disabilities the opportunity to get closer to animals, observe a small pond and reach (with the help of a guide) the panoramic point placed at the summit of "Viale dei Mandorli", passing through the organic vegetable garden: in this way, most of the farmstead has become accessible to people with disabilities.

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