Cultural Tourism for the Blind

In recent years the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities’s dedication to tourism for the disabled, along with the continous efforts of the country’s numerous organizations for the disabled and handicapped, have encouraged tourism operators to focus on their understanding and communications of this particular need, and to make artistic and cultural itineraries more accessible to all. For this reason, the Italian Union for the Blind and Partially Blind (UIC) has opened, together with the Department for Youth under the Presidency of the Council of Ministries, some of Italy’s major touristic attractions to visually-impaired tourists. This initiative is part of a project entitled “Cultural Tourism for the Visually Disabled,” specifically to be applied in the regions of Tuscany, Lazio and Campania. The project was presented at the Headquarters of the Rome UIC on June 27, and brought together 500 blind and visually-impaired persons, accompanied by their guides. Another goal of the project is to sensitize functionaries in the tourism sector, especially those responsible for structures and infrastructure, for touristic guides and employees in museums and other cultural sites. In Rome, the project is to be implemented in the Capitoline Museums, the Baracco Museum, the Museum of Musical Instruments, Trajan’s Markets, the Museum of Imperial Forums, and the Contemporary and Modern Art Museums. As for Tuscany, the Alinari National Museum of Photography (complete with images accessibile to the blind), Palazzo Pitti, the Boboli Gardens, the Science History Museum and the Horne Foundation Museum, all in Florence, will take part. The same goes for the Paleontology Museum in Empoli, and the Musem of Natural History and of the Territory of Calci in Calci (Pisa). Finally, in Campania, the visually-impaired can visit the Museum of Excavations of Pompei, and the Royal Palace and the Domenico Martuscelli Institute for the Blind (noteworthy for its quantity of usable materials for the seeing-impaired), both in Naples. From / ITALIA website