Over forty workshops and visits to social farms in Alto Friuli are underway

Petting a horse, watching a vegetable garden grow, smelling the scent of medicinal plants or feeding goats. There are many and varied experiences that about thirty people with disabilities followed by the Comunità di Rinascita di Tolmezzo will have over the summer. They will participate in the activities of nine social farms and other agricultural companies or activities with animals throughout Alto Friuli. "We wanted to include the opportunities of social agriculture in the socio-educational and enabling paths of our guests - says President Alessandro Collavino - The intent is to verify how the stimuli of the rural and animal environment bring benefits, activating sensory channels and abilities that are usually little expressed".

The first two visits took place last week at the social farm “La gallinella saggia” in Cavazzo and at the sports association “Equestre pineta”, which manages the riding school in Villa Santina. They are also, together with the educational farm “Il Bearç” in Ovaro, the formal partners of the project, which has obtained important support from the Fondazione Friuli as part of the welfare call 2025. Other outings will take place at the social farm Pecora Nera in Ovaro, at the Allegra fattoria and at the Centro cinofilo L'orma del cane both in Caneva di Tolmezzo, at the educational farms Le piccole canaglie in Malborghetto and Rifugio dei folletti in Chiusaforte, at the beekeeping Maroncelli in Cavazzo.

“The companies we contacted were enthusiastic about collaborating,” Collavino continues, “and so are we, because it is a way to broaden contacts in the area and experiment with new forms of community welfare.” In addition to the adults included in the residential service and the day center, some children followed by occupational therapy operators will also be involved. They will be given specific outings to facilities accredited for animal-assisted interventions, where meeting horses, donkeys and dogs is not just a form of entertainment but follows specific educational objectives.

It will be a summer between fields and stables for the guests of the social cooperative, active for over forty years in Tolmezzo and throughout Carnia. As the slogan of the project itself says, a summer of "Rebirth on the farm".