STAI 2: Services for Accessible and Inclusive Tourism

The Province of Pavia is leading an ambitious project to make inclusive tourism a new quality standard for the region.

With a total investment of €6.1 million and an operational horizon extending to June 2027, the project STAI 2 – Services for Accessible and Inclusive Tourism aims to make Pavia and its province fully enjoyable by everyone: people with physical, sensory and cognitive disabilities, the elderly, families with young children, and anyone with accessibility needs.

At the heart of the project are concrete infrastructure interventions, designed to transform already beloved visitor destinations into spaces that are truly open to all.

The Greenway Voghera–Varzi will be enhanced with tactile signage, inclusive furnishings, equipped rest stops and a three-dimensional tactile map in Varzi: a nature trail through the vineyards of Oltrepò Pavese, finally navigable independently by every type of visitor.

The university campus and urban routes of Pavia will be upgraded with accessible itineraries connecting the historic buildings of the city centre, enriched by multimedia totems featuring tactile maps, QR codes and audio guides — tools designed for tourists, students and residents alike.

The Auditorium of the Employment Centre in Voghera will be transformed into a fully inclusive space, with reserved seating, Italian Sign Language (LIS) technology and real-time subtitling.

An app and a portal for planning before and during your trip

Planning an accessible holiday requires reliable, up-to-date information. STAI 2 works on two digital fronts:

The Lombardia Facile portal will be enhanced with a systematic mapping of accessible tourist facilities and services in Pavia and Sondrio, with multilingual content in text, audio and video formats, verified and certified.

A dedicated accessible tourism app will also be developed, complementary to the portal, with augmented reality features, geolocation of nearby accessible services, personalised notifications, offline mode, and the ability for users to report barriers or suggest improvements — a system that grows with the community that uses it.

For tourists with hearing disabilities, the "112 Sordi" app and the "112 Where Are U" service will be integrated into the tourism context, providing automatic geolocation and facilitated communication with emergency services.

Training, employment and hospitality

Accessibility is not just a matter of ramps and maps. STAI 2 also invests in training for tourism operators — guides, accommodation managers, transport staff — with specific programmes on inclusive hospitality, assistive technologies and accessibility regulations.

On the employment front, the project provides for the activation of 20 specialist internships in the tourism sector for people with disabilities, in collaboration with employment centres and local businesses: a pathway towards economic independence and genuine social inclusion.

A local network that makes the difference

STAI 2 is not a top-down project. It involves over 60 stakeholders, including institutional partners, disability associations, municipalities, foundations and businesses. Key partners include the Province of Sondrio, the University of Pavia, the Chamber of Commerce of Cremona, Mantova and Pavia, and the main representative associations such as ENS, LEDHA-CRABA, UICI Lombardia, ANFFAS and ANMIC Lombardia.

At the local level, municipalities including Voghera, Miradolo Terme, Rivanazzano Terme and Godiasco have joined, together with the Oltrepò Pavese Mountain Community — ensuring the project is firmly rooted in the real needs of local communities.

Project figures

With STAI 2, the Province of Pavia goes beyond removing a few architectural barriers: it is building a model of tourism in which accessibility is the standard, not the exception. A territory that chooses to be open to everyone is a territory that is more attractive, more vibrant and more equitable.