Who said the job ends when you go on vacation? A concrete answer to this question comes from Rimini, the capital of tourism in Romagna: it is called Milleorti for tourism And it is a project that transforms simple gardens into real life gyms, and holidays in recognition prizes. And he does it with a cheerful, concrete and above all inclusive spirit.
The return of the project
Now reached his own fifth editionMilleorti for tourism is configured as a multipurpose social laboratory, where plants, relationships, skills and dignity grow. Designed by Alberghi.it together with the Crescenda together with the ODV and the Social Cooperative Il Millepiedi, the project unites Thirty hotels in the Riviera Romagnola – ten more than 2024 – with the aim of offer job opportunities to people with intellectual disabilities.
The heart of the initiative beats toInclusive green area of the Macanno housean oasis a stone’s throw from the city where each hotel adopts a vegetable garden and entrusts it to the care of a special working group. To cultivate salads and courgettes there are no any peasants, but young people and adults with disabilities, supported by expert educators, psychologists and agronomists. Here you learn to respect the timetables, to work in a team, to communicate, and, not a small thing, you find out how nice it can be part of something.
Eugenio Quartulli, educator and coordinator of the project, tells the case of Filippo, 23 years old with a smile. After three years spent handling hoes and seedlings, he obtained an internship in a Conad supermarket. «It was a fundamental step for him: he learned to manage emotions, to arrive on time, to take care of his duties with responsibility. He matured, he found his place in the world ».
The news
But there is more. This year, thanks to the adhesion of an increasing number of hoteliers, The workers of the gardens will also receive a special prize: a trip to Florence. A symbolic and concrete experience, to teach that holidays are also an integral part of the working cycle. «If work is effort and commitment, the holiday is the right recognition. Even people with disabilities are entitled to this combination. It is a strong message, which we hope will arrive far away », explain Lucio Bonini and Andrea Sacchetti, at the helm of Alberghi.it.
Because yes, Milleorti for tourism is not just an agricultural or social project. It is a small cultural revolution. Born with the idea of enhancing the “different skills”, he has shown that inclusion is not charity, but co-production of value. The vegetable garden is not the end, but the means, a pretext to bring together different worlds: tourists, hoteliers, citizens, families and institutions. And everyone, in this context, learn something. Above all that Disability is not a limit, but a resourceand that welcoming a fragile person in his staff can become an advantage for the entire working group.
Ready to replicate success
Over the years, as highlighted in the 2019-2020 impact report curated by AICCON For the University of Bologna, the thousand gardens generated benefits on several levels: Participants have seen their self -esteem, social relationships, organization of time, and above all the perception of self as workers improve, and above all. Families were able to breathe, feel part of a shared path. The territory, thanks to the opening of the project to citizenship, has rediscovered the sense of solidarity and collaboration, and in many cases real paths of active citizenship were born.
And it doesn’t end here. The echo of a thousand gardens has also reached the world of experiential tourism: Some hotels, such as the Rimini coral, have integrated guided tours of the garden in the reception package, offering guests the opportunity to get to know the protagonists of the project up close and, why not, to get their hands dirty between the flower beds. A different way to live the holiday, learning to look at the territory with new eyes.
“Every time we put on a seedling, we also plant a seed of the future,” says Sabrina Gorini, president of growing together. And he is right. Because the future is thus built, with patience, carefully, with your hands in the earth and a slightly lighter heart.
Winning experience
In short, the Milleorti for tourism is the living proof that you can do business, welcome and solidarity together. Without rhetoric, piericism and forcing, only with a good dose of empathy, a pinch of madness and a deep love for the things that grow, also – and above all – when they grow slowly.
If you want to know where to stay and contribute to the project, take a look at the hotels participating on www.alberghi.it. Who knows, maybe your next stay in Rimini will also be an opportunity to do something beautiful, for someone who just needs to be put in the right land.
