We all dream of a accessible tourism And above all, an accessible reality. There are no limits unless those limits are created. And that is why several sites in Naples have committed themselves to making culture, art and history accessible to all.

The DAI Hall at the Royal Palace of Naples

Among them, the Royal Palace of Naples created the DAI Hall (Didactics-Accessibility-Inclusion), the educational room for universal accessibility, founded in 2007 and located on the first floor of the Cortile d'Onore. The idea behind it is to offer tools that can facilitate the visit and knowledge of the building and the works it houses in an alternative way: through a video in LIS for deaf people, videos with cartoons dedicated to Down people, a facilitated guide (in Italian and English); moreover, in 2007 the Italian Federation Pro Blind Made a 1:200 scale model with captions Braille to reproduce the structure of the Palace so that visitors can perceive through a tactile experience the architecture and volumetric articulation of the building. There is no shortage of a permanent tactile itinerary with scaled-down reproductions of the statues of the kings of Naples on the main facade and other objects from the storerooms.

The tactile panorama near Castel Sant'Elmo

Paul Puddu, with the project Follow the Shape won the Young Artists Competition, deciding to dedicate the tactile panorama of Naples to blind people thanks to the Braille language that follows the handrails of the walkways that circumscribe Square of Arms, to be exact where the medieval walls of Castel Sant'Elmo to the Vomero: in this way they will be able to go on an inner journey, where the words of writers and poets dedicated to Naples will allow them to get to know the city, the landscape and experience an emotion without setting any limits to their imagination.

Even the Archaeological excavations of Herculaneum open the doors to a different and welcoming reality. The Superintendency, together with theItalian Union of the Blind, the National Speech Book Center and the Herculaneum Study Center, launched an initiative aimed at exploring the park through smell, touch and hearing. The Italian Union of the Blind participated personally and enthusiastically in the project, as it was asked to carry out a series of tests so that the best route for blind and visually impaired people could be designed. Visitors will be invited to touch mosaics, inscriptions and structures with their hands, to listen to special noises or to smell some of the plants in the archaeological park, so that they can reconstruct a picture of the park through their other senses.

The Botanical Garden and the Tactile and Olfactory Museum.

Those who like to be surrounded by the sounds and scents of nature can visit the Naples Botanical Garden. The area is home to a Tactile and olfactory museum, dedicated to the blind and visually impaired. The "Chalet" is dedicated to the display of plant parts corresponding to the various organs that distinguish higher plants, as well as the typical fragrances of certain species. Among the wooden displays are showcases, used for displaying parts of some plants, and panels, whose corks release the fragrance of essential oils.

The upper compartment of each vitrine containing the plant material on display is provided with a hole through which the user can perceive by touch the particular characteristics of the plant organs present and, in the case where fragrant parts of plants are on display, also be guided by smell. On the surface located to the side of the hole, a synthetic text, in braille characters, has been arranged, providing information about the plant material contained in the display case.

As for the panels, on the other hand, by lifting the caps and appreciating the intense, enveloping smells, visitors can recognize the respective species thanks to the braille inscription next to each cap.

The outdoor path, on the other hand, is very differentiated: there is a handrail whose carvings follow the types of plants that can be encountered, but also displayed are the herbs typically used in the mediterranean cuisine; in the pottery area, displays were set up with plant species particularly perceptible by touch and smell, such as lemon balm, yarrow and wormwood, concluding with some thornless roses.