The memorandum of understanding between ASL Taranto e Arif, the regional agency that deals with irrigation and forestry activitiesfor the organization of socio-educational-rehabilitative activities for disabled people within the Leggiadrezze Nursery.
Il Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation of the ASL Taranto has in fact created a project which involves the involvement of people with mental, behavioural, physical and psychosocial disabilities in laboratory activities, horticultural therapy and outdoor courses.
Contact with the earth and activities connected to it, such as taking care of plants or carrying out laboratory activities in the open air, have a fundamental role in improving people’s state of well-being, regardless of any pathologies: for people with disabilities these represent also a path of inclusion. “Today is an important day for rehabilitation activities – he declared the general director of the ASL Taranto, Vito Gregorio Colacicco – Thanks to this project, rehabilitation activities will no longer only be inside the structures, but also outside, in nature. I thank Arif who welcomed us to this place, giving our kids the opportunity to do horticultural therapy immersed in nature”.
Thanks to the collaboration with Arif, people with disabilities will be protagonists of “ecological rehabilitation” activities through contact with the greenery of the trees, manipulation of the earth, sowing activities and relationships with operators and will be able to do so in the “Vivaio Leggiadrezze ”, an area looked after by the regional agency and which is also of great importance in the history and culture of the City of Taranto: it is, in fact, in the area close to the Mar Piccolo and the Galeso river, sung by Virgil in the Georgics.
“This space was created to increase forestation in the region – he declared the general director of Arif Francesco Ferraro – With the protocol signed today, we combine this activity with the rehabilitation one and gradually make the place available to the citizens of Taranto and the province for visits and educational activities.” The protocol, lasting one year and possibly renewable, provides for educational activities such as social agriculture and the educational garden, but the intention of the subjects involved, including the Puglia Region, is to also implement new and additional projects that can promote health, well-being and inclusion through the care of green spaces.
“Today’s protocol will be the first of a series of projects that we intend to carry out with ARIF, certain of the benefits that nature has on people. For this reason, we propose ourselves as a regional model for this type of activity, with the aim of making these places accessible to all citizens” added Colacicco. In fact, it is among the objectives of ASL Taranto and Arif to extend the collaboration to other entities, for example, with collaboration in the management of the green spaces of the new San Cataldo hospital with the creation of social gardens, but also the possibility of organizing activities and workshops in other areas managed by Arif.
