Welcome to Venice.

Disabled for one day: this is the theme of the workshop “Welcome to Venice”, organized by the professors of the IUAV Valeria Tatano and Stefano Maurizio, to test the actual accessibility of Venice. Ina public place, crowded and chaotic like Piazzale Roma, 60 students of the IUAV have been in the shoes of motor or sensorial disabled and so they have experienced what it means to daily face different limitations of movement or perception. With a mask on the eyes to simulate blindness, sitting on a wheelchair to under stand the disease of not being able to enjoy free movement, the students witnessed how also a well known area  can easily become a obstacle path, facing different problems during a “normal tour” around the Piazzale. From the difficulties in entering the private parking during the walking among the cars to the one of using ramps in bad conditions, to the scarce perception of space and the lack of signs for blind, the workshop put under the lights the problems which can be found in an “experimental visit” of the lagoon city, by representing at the same time a useful moment of show up on the theme of accessibility.