The municipality of Bella, in the province of Potenza, and the towns around it share a common set of difficulties: social marginalisation, limited opportunities to socialise, and growing difficulty in truly integrating and including people with disabilities. Older residents face a similar fate, too often seen as having little left to contribute, which leaves their knowledge and life experience with no one to pass it on to.
Bringing older people, people with disabilities, and younger generations together around a shared garden changes that dynamic: elderly participants become the ones who teach, sharing what they know about growing food, while the garden itself, and the vegetables that go from it to the table, becomes a natural setting for social and cultural exchange across generations.
The project
The project uses horticultural and garden therapy, recognised therapeutic approaches, as a practical tool for integration, social inclusion and socialisation. Working the land together, people with disabilities, older residents, children and young adults grow vegetables side by side, building relationships that would not otherwise form.
Central to the project is a shift in how disability and old age are seen: rather than treating participants only as people to be cared for, the project puts them in an active role within the community's social and cultural life, older residents as teachers of gardening knowledge, and people with disabilities as full participants in a shared activity, gaining new skills and a stronger sense of belonging along the way.
Who the project is for
The project's direct beneficiaries number 74 people in total: 14 people with physical disabilities and their families (aged 16 to 70), 22 children (aged 6 to 16), 32 young adults (aged 25 to 59), and 26 older residents (aged 60 to 85).
Beyond this group, some activities are also open, free of charge, to anyone from the community who wants to take part as an observer, though this wider participation cannot be quantified in advance.
Project name: Orto Sociale - Orto Terapia - La bellezza nella diversità per unire ciò che l’egoismo umano divide. 'anno 2026'
Proposing organisation: A.I.C.D.A. ODV - Associazione Italiana Cittadini e Disabili Attivi
Area of intervention: Inclusion & Social Development
Country: Italy