Cilento, the Orchid Valley opens to the disabled with a new route. From Saturday 50 with muscular dystrophy.
Fifty young people who suffer from muscular dystrophy and other diseases that make them disabled and who will be able to explore in a new and accessible path a valley in Cilento with hundreds of species of orchids, famous in the world.
This is the result of the project, supported by the Campania Region and developed by the Municipality of Sassano with Uildm (Italian Union for the Fight against Muscular Dystrophy) which starts on Saturday in the Valle delle Orchidee in Sassano, in the province of Salerno.
The project will see disabled people join the group of approximately 250 people who flock to the valley on weekends in spring to admire and be transported by the emotions of the colours and scents of orchids. For them there will be barrier-free paths and they will be accompanied by assistants and an agronomist who will lead them to discover the flowers.
“With this initiative – explains the regional councilor and president of the Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni National Park, Tommaso Pellegrino – we give a strong signal about the extraordinary places of internal areas of the Region that are often inaccessible to those with a motor problem while from Saturday the Valley of Orchids has been adapted, where international visitors and scholars come but that from Saturday and on a regular basis will transmit special emotions to everyone. We have created a path without barriers that will become a stable project”.
The new route allows people with mobility problems to use it, as well as blind people and those with ALS or SMA, in a policy insisted upon by the regional councillor for tourism Felice Casucci: “Let's combine - explains - on the internal areas of green tourism and accessibility, giving the possibility in this case to people with disabilities or motor difficulties to reach a place where there are over 180 different species of orchids, an area of bloom and beauty. A beautiful message that comes from Sassano and from those who support little-known but extraordinary places”.
The mayor of Sassano, Domenico Rubino, can't wait: “The Region creates accessible tourism in peripheral areas after having worked on it in the cities. We give everyone the opportunity to enjoy the natural beauty with administrators working to break down architectural barriers and adapt natural ones. In the valley we have adapted mini-paths that lead disabled people to explore about twenty stations with many different species of orchids. We expect about 200 visitors on Saturday, of which 50 will now be disabled”.
The biggest smile comes from Salvatore Leonardo, president of Uildm of Naples: “It's a new path - explains - like the one already active on Vesuvius. We'll go there on Saturday, happy with the kids who come from two years of closure due to covid and now they will have a new experience with the routes prepared by the Region".
Article published on May 12, 2022 - 15:57 pm
