"Michela Marcato, 54, has been blind since birth. She and her partially sighted partner were touring the site amid a new effort by Italy to make its myriad artistic treasures more accessible to people with blindness or low vision. As she listened to her tour guide, Marcato traced her fingers over a small souvenir model of the Colosseum. She felt the grooves of its archways and rugged rubble of its crumbled side."
"But in 2021, as a condition of receiving European Union pandemic recovery funds, Italy accelerated its accessibility initiatives, dedicating more attention and resources to removing architectural barriers and making its tourist sites and sporting venues more accessible. The ancient city of Pompeii recently installed a new system of signage to make the vast archaeological site more accessible to blind and disabled people. The project uses braille signs, QR-coded audio guides, tactile models and bas-relief replicas of artifacts that have been excavated over the years."
Italy is expanding efforts to make museums, archaeological sites and sporting venues accessible to people who are blind, have low vision or mobility impairments. Tour programs include tactile models, braille signage, QR-code audio guides and bas-relief replicas to allow touch and audio perception of artworks and monuments. The Colosseum hosts tactile tours where blind visitors trace models to understand shape and detail. Pompeii installed a new signage system incorporating braille, audio and tactile elements. The push accelerated after 2021 European Union pandemic recovery funding required accessibility improvements and prompted investment in removing architectural barriers across cities and sites.
Read at www.orlandosentinel.com
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