The Disabilincorsa-ODV Association, created to support blind people and their love for sport, organised with the Via Francigena a walk along the stretch from Pontremoli to Santhià, starting on 23 April and arriving on 6 May 2023, for a total of 333 km and 13 stages. During the hike, a guide will accompany blind and visually impaired participants to ensure a safe and peaceful journey.
Disabilincorsa-ODV and Via Francigena united for peace and against prejudice
Already in 2019, Disabilincorsa-ODV walked a stretch of the Via Francigena from Rome to Siena, involving blind people (together with their guide dogs) and willing companions. Participants then resumed the event in 2022 to walk the next stretch: from Siena to Pontremoli.
The initiative aims to make the walk accessible to all people, breaking down prejudices and barriers between people with disabilities and those ‘without’.
During the 2023 edition, the project ‘On the Via Francigena against prejudice‘ will be launched, with which seven blind people, a dozen of accompanying persons and a guide dog named Fucsia, will walk the Via Francigena and deliver 1000 Peace Cranes to pilgrims along the way. The reference is linked to the message of peace of Sadako Sasaki, the Japanese girl who died of leukaemia after surviving the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. She had tried to realise her wish to heal by building a thousand paper cranes, according to the legend of the thousand origami of Senbazuru: “I will write peace on your wings and around the world you will fly so that children will no longer die like this.”
Let’s join forces: walk with us!
The initiative is open to all those who share the idea of inclusion, equality, peace and solidarity that characterises it, and which, like any self-respecting sporting and social enterprise, requires a big effort in terms of time and means. Thus, those who wish to contribute to the hike can contact the Disabilincorsa-ODV Association, while those who wish to participate in the creation of the 1000 Cranes can try their hand at the enterprise. Follow the guide:
The delivery of the cranes does not have a deadline. Specifically, you can deliver them by hand (by appointment) or by post, at the Disabilincorsa-ODV Association’s head office located in: Romano di Lombardia, Italy – vicolo Vincenzo Gioberti, 11 (BG).
