Over the years 2024/25/26, Fondazione per lo Sport Silvia Parente ETS has been entrusted with carrying out activities under the European project AMIGOS, which is managed by Città Metropolitana di Bologna. The project, which received funding from the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme of the European Union, enabled the implementation of the following activities, which will be completed by summer 2026:
- Two-session workshops held at the Palazzo d’Accursio (Bologna), for the definition of solutions to improve the availability and quality of information regarding accessible outdoor itineraries in the Apennine territory of the Metropolitan City of Bologna (WP2 - Task 2.1).
We carried out a co-design process involving citizens with disabilities, sector experts and staff of the public authority responsible for tourism policies at the metropolitan level. The meetings, aimed at identifying the difficulties and critical issues in relation to the use of information about accessible outdoor itineraries, allowed us to develop a potential solution to the problems identified.
At the end of the brainstorming, the idea emerged of proposing, as a solution, the creation of a website and an associated communication plan that has the characteristics shown in the image below.
It is possible, from the link alongside, to download the report in .pdf format of the two meetings, including images of all the posters and the materials produced.
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On the website "Outdoor365", information in accessible format was published regarding two existing walking routes which, however, lacked some accessibility information and whose information had previously been disseminated in a format not accessible to visually-impaired people: the “Piccola Cassia” and the “Via Mater Dei”. The information about the two itineraries is available at the following links:
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PICCOLA CASSIA: https://www.outdoor365.it/piccola-cassia-home-page
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VIA MATER DEI: https://www.outdoor365.it/mater-dei-home-page
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Two-session workshops, scheduled for 6 and 8 November 2025, aiming to raise awareness, inform and make the stakeholders of the tourism offering of the Metropolitan City of Bologna (tourist offices, hiking guides and companions, accommodation facilities, public officials working in territory promotion, etc.) more aware of the importance of welcoming excursionists and tourists with visual disabilities.
It is possible, from the link below, to download the report in .pdf format of the two meetings, including images of all the posters and the materials produced.
Training course for volunteer tandem companions for people with disabilities
As part of the “AMIGOS” project, a training course was held for volunteers wishing to make themselves available as tandem companions and pilots.
The course took place in Bologna on 18 and 19 April 2026, with the following programme:
- 18 April 2026
From 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., the course first covered legal aspects, followed by topics related to the psychological approach to people with disabilities.
In the afternoon, from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., topics related to safety during excursions, cartography, and the use of GPS were addressed together with Dr Massimo Gherardi, university lecturer in geomatics. - 19 April 2026
The entire day was dedicated to technical practice with adapted MTB equipment and a full-day excursion using tandem bicycles.
Ten participants attended the course and will now be able to volunteer free of charge in inclusive cycling excursions.
The AMIGOS project promotes sustainable and innovative mobility, enhancing the historic route of the Piccola Cassia and developing accessible, safe and inclusive itineraries for people in conditions of vulnerability and disability.
In particular, the objective of the Metropolitan City of Bologna, together with the Fondazione per lo Sport Silvia Parente, is to make the information about the routes in this area accessible and easily usable: the Outdoor365 portal gathers the route information, integrating them into a digital system compliant with information-accessibility standards.
Through multi-level coordination, the rich heritage of the Piccola Cassia will be able to be enjoyed by a larger pool of tourists and, above all, will contribute to improving the quality of life of the inhabitants of the Bolognese Apennines.
Link to the official project site: amigos-project.eu
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