There will be 23 extraordinary crews that will climb aboard Nave ITALIA, the sailing ship from the Tender To Nave Italia Foundation a non-profit organization established in 2007 by the Navy and the Italian Yacht Club.
Nave Italia, the largest brig in the world (61 meters long and 1300 square meters of sail area) will sail on April 4 from the port of La Spezia to touch, throughout the spring and summer period, the Italian ports of Genoa, Savona, Livorno, Civitavecchia, Olbia and Cagliari.
On board, in the company of the Navy crew and the scientific staff of the Foundation, 23 associations will rise and third sector non-profit organizations from all of Italy and one from South Africato experience how the Nave Italia method positively affects the well-being of those experiencing hardship or disability.
Among the numerous projects, we note: in May, “Il viaggio di Esprimo” promoted by the University of Verona – Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement, aimed at patients suffering from multiple sclerosis between the ages of 18 and 45; in June “It’s time to set sail 2”, promoted by AGOP – Pediatric Oncology Parents Associationwhich is aimed at patients between 12 and 18 years old suffering from onco-haematological pathologies followed by the pediatric oncology and childhood neurosurgery department of the Gemelli in Rome and the Proton Therapy Center in Trento.
Between June and July it will be the turn of “Academy to Italy!”, a project promoted by the Royal Cape Yacht Club Sailing Academy of Cape Town, with the aim of bring South African students closer to the world of sailing aged between 15 and 23, coming from poor and marginalized communities due to the historic consequences of the country’s apartheid.
And again in July, thanks to “Diabetes at sea: how technology can help”, a program proposed by Zero Diabetes associations e Janasdia with the participation of Luna Rossa teama group of insulin dependent type 1 diabetics, supported by a specialist team, he will have to face the challenge of reconciling the times imposed by the illness with those of life on board.
In the first week of August it will be the turn of the patients followed by the Oncohematology department of the Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital in Rome. “Swelling against cancer”this is the name of the project, is an integral part of the treatment process and has the main objective of letting young people aged between 12 and 19 experience new skills and behaviors within an adventurous setting such as that of the Brigantino .
Everytime, work, play, dine, learn, live. Always together.
In turn, there are those who will polish the brasses of the bridge and the hatches, those who will learn to steer, those who hoist, lower and maneuver the sailsunder the orders of the Captain and the Boatswain.
One of the most emblematic activities of this path of education and growth is the “ascent to the shore”, that is, climbing the foremast up to a height of 10 metres.
After a summer break in August, in which the brig will remain in La Spezia, Nave Italia will set sail again and, between September and October, will continue to carry out projects by embarking entities from all over Italy.
Nave Italia will leave again with them on board “Seastyle”, a project promoted by the Antonio Stradivari Institute of Higher Education in Cremona, which focuses on music as an expressive, aggregative and therapeutic experience, making creativity and art fruitful in a collaborative dimension. We will continue browsing with the project “Travel and Wellness in the frail elderly”, promoted by the University of Bergamo and the Together with You Association, on its second embarkation on Nave Italia, which intends to evaluate the effectiveness of educational-experiential travel approaches, in elderly people and people with dementia. At the end of the season, with the project “Browse in Vista” a group of blind or visually impaired young people between the ages of 12 and 35 will go on board, with an additional condition of mild cognitive disability. This project, promoted by the Institute for Research, Training and Rehabilitation of the Lazio Regional Council Onlus, will allow the beneficiaries to live experiences in which adventure and rationality coexist, respecting the times they need to develop the experiences.
239 beneficiaries and 91 operators have already benefited from it
“Since 2007 Nave Italia has traveled over 40,000 miles promoting the culture of the sea and navigation as tools for education, training, social inclusion and support for rehabilitation therapy”, recalls Admiral Giorgio Lazio, president of the Tender To Nave Italia Foundation.
«In 2022 – comments Paolo Cornaglia Ferraris, for 20 years at the head of the children’s hospital Gaslini of Genoa, scientific director of the Tender to Nave Italia Foundation – 239 beneficiaries and 91 operators benefited from the “Nave Italia method”: children, adolescents, adults, even the elderly with dementia who experience disability and hardship; those who took care of them embarked with them. Getting on board, facing the sea has become a metaphor for an unstable life, like the waves of the sea. But then everyone discovers that proximity, discipline and sharing are healing tools. They lived together an exciting, joyful, educational, therapeutic adventure. Those who were convinced of not succeeding discover new resources, surprise themselves and others and gain new energy. The love for the sea and nature become the conquest of a different life. Everyone forgets their limits, enriching the other with originality. Upon return, emotions become indelible memories of an improbable, yet achieved change that transforms everyone into a special sailor. Those who embrace them on their return say: “I didn’t think he would have succeeded”; he will be forced to rethink his own way of seeing fragility and care pathways ».
«The method does not aim to remedy deficits, but plans the construction of each participant’s strengths, removing the stigma of the word “therapy”, and the concept of disease that it carries with it», continues Cornaglia Ferraris. «The “Nave Italia method” is good for the weak, but also for those who care for them».
Navigating with the LIS
In July the boys from de will be back on board again The House of Lights, a non-profit organization based in Rome and Milan, born from the will of two parents with the aim of accompanying and supporting young people with serious communication disabilities – associated with physical, sensory and/or cognitive deficits – who are able to communicate thanks to the language of signs (LIS), with particular attention to the delicate moment of the transition to adulthood with the intention of offering adequate answers to the problem of “during” and “after us”.
Last summer, for five days, a group of 5 young peopleaway from home but together, in a new but completely accessible environment thanks to the common communication code offered from sign language, set off on a ship towards that ‘dream’ represented by autonomy. Bianca, Lucio, Luca, Fabio and Natalia were to all intents and purposes part of the crew and had the opportunity to live a unique experience: to make a long crossing of almost 260 nautical miles from north-eastern Sicily to lower Lazio.
On board Nave Italia, for Tutto it was a conquest: from the arrival at the port of departure, in Milazzo, to the ladder to board the boat, through to learning new signs to express unknown words. The initial relational difficulty, which perhaps made this crossing apparently more difficult than others, has in fact progressively given way to curiosity towards a new communication method which has united the crew even more on board. «The first step was taken by the boys and girls of La Casa delle Luci who gave all the sailors a name-sign‘ (a special sign that is used within deaf communities to uniquely identify a person)», says Alessandra Boni, deaf educator of La Casa delle Luci. «And if the mediation of the team of operators on board was fundamental at the beginning, the last day was a crescendo of emotions and satisfactions. Dduring the ascent to shore the sailors communicated directly with the boys without the use of words and then, in the evening, the whole crew sang and scored together».
Photo by Tender To Nave ITALIA Foundation