From 17 to 19 September a group of thirty-two people, with and without disabilities, travelled through the Prosecco Hills, the Feltre area, the Berici Hills and Vicenza with a precise aim: to test routes, venues and hospitality and find out whether they allow different people to share the same experience. It was the third edition of “Un Mondo che si Muove” (“A World on the Move”), the “Turismo Agile” project of the Fondazione Efesto ETS, born in Belluno. This year’s motto: “Shared horizons, zero barriers”.
Its stop in the Feltre area is a good moment to do something rarely done: set out what we actually know about accessibility in the Belluno Dolomites, and what we simply take for granted.
Our principle
DolomitiBelluno considers a venue, route or service accessible only on the basis of information declared by responsible sources or technically verified.
We do not automatically treat words such as “easy”, “family-friendly”, “flat” or “suitable for pushchairs” as synonyms of accessible.
1. What happened with “Un Mondo che si Muove”
The project is in its third year: it began in 2024 between Belluno and the island of San Giorgio in Venice, spent four days in the Belluno Dolomites heading towards Cortina in 2025, and this year travelled “from hill to hill”. The foundation’s secretary general, Matteo Gobbo Trioli, describes it as a laboratory rather than an assistance trip: participants are explorers looking for the strengths and weaknesses of places and venues, in order to propose improvements.
There were two stops in the province of Belluno. On Thursday 17, in Feltre, the group took a guided tactile and sensory tour of the “Carlo Rizzarda” modern art gallery and of the Franzoia-Nasci collection of Venetian glass, followed by a series of talks — including a conversation on telemedicine with Gianfranco Conati, head of geriatrics at Belluno hospital, and an accessible reading by the Centro Internazionale del Libro Parlato of Feltre — and an evening at the Unisono Jazz Caffè in Palazzo Guarnieri. On Friday 18 came a guided visit to the Lattebusche dairy in Busche, with a tasting, and lunch in Meano di Santa Giustina before leaving for the Berici Hills.
Two details make the point well. Hotel Doriguzzi in Feltre offered the group twenty rooms at the same price, from suite to standard: not a trivial choice, because — as Gobbo Trioli noted — many hotels, including large chains, have only one or at most two accessible rooms. And for the first time the group travelled on an adapted vehicle provided by Dolomiti Bus.
The results of the trip — the observations place by place — have not yet been published. When they are, we will report on them.
2. Why “accessible” does not simply mean “easy”
A flat path can have a surface of loose gravel that stops a wheelchair. A “family” route can have a step at the entrance, a footbridge that is too narrow, a toilet that cannot be reached. A museum with a lift may offer nothing to someone who cannot see. Accessibility is not an adjective: it is a set of data — widths, gradients, surface, services, aids, assistance — and it only applies to the type of disability for which those data were collected.
That is why, from today, we classify information with five labels: VERIFIED (features documented or tested), DECLARED (declared by the operator or authority), PARTIAL (only some elements accessible), TO BE VERIFIED (insufficient information), NOT AVAILABLE (an official source documents a limitation).
3. What is already documented in the Belluno Dolomites
| Place | Status | What we found |
|---|---|---|
| Orsera nature trail, Val Canzoi (Cesiomaggiore) | VERIFIED survey 2018, update 2019 | Full technical sheet from the “Dolomiti Accessibili” project |
| La Santina environmental education centre, Val Canzoi | DECLARED | Sensory trail designed also for blind and partially sighted people and wheelchair users |
| “Campanula morettiana” botanical garden, Val del Mis | DECLARED | Braille panels, relief model, wheelchair accessible |
| MyCandy Arena, Lentiai | PARTIAL | Accessible toilet with shower |
| “Carlo Rizzarda” gallery, Feltre | TO BE VERIFIED | No official accessibility statement found |
| Provincial public transport | TO BE VERIFIED | Partial and out-of-date information |
4. Val Canzoi: a trail with numbers
This is the best-documented case in the province. The technical sheet of the “Dolomiti Accessibili. Un patrimonio per tutti” project describes the Orsera nature trail in detail: a 2,100-metre loop, 36 metres of ascent and 38 of descent, an average gradient of 3%, an average width of path and footbridges of 2 metres. The surface is 70% tarmac and 30% wooden boardwalks and bridges, closed to traffic, with no exposed sections; the sheet does note, however, that the surface is slippery in places.
The start, at the Orsera restaurant at 589 metres, can only be reached by private vehicle. Parking is free but without reserved spaces. The accessible toilet indicated is the one at the La Santina environmental education centre. The route is described as passable with a standard wheelchair, although the sheet recommends an outdoor aid and a front wheel attachment, knobbly tyres, a repair kit and — for power chairs — spare batteries, as there are no charging points along the way. Mobile coverage is weak.
One limit must be stated clearly: the survey was carried out on 22 September 2018 by ASSI onlus and updated by the Mazarol cooperative on 17 June 2019. The data are seven years old. The Park and the guides also mention a “sentiero facilitato” (easy-access path) built by the municipality of Cesiomaggiore with boardwalks; from the official sources we could not establish whether it fully coincides with the Orsera loop.
5. La Santina: the trail of the senses
Next to the Park’s environmental education centre in Val Canzoi there is a permanent sensory trail. The municipality of Cesiomaggiore describes it as nineteen stations stimulating smell, touch, taste, hearing and sight, aimed at everyone and in particular also at partially sighted and blind people and wheelchair users. It was created by the Mazarol cooperative with civil service volunteers; the Braille texts were produced by the Centro Internazionale del Libro Parlato of Feltre, the same organisation that took part in this year’s “Un Mondo che si Muove”.
What we do not know: the centre’s 2026 opening calendar. The Park indicates that the centre opens for specific activities; the outdoor trail is permanent, but anyone who needs the accessible toilet or assistance should check in advance with the Mazarol cooperative (+39 329 0040808).
6. Feltre and the Rizzarda gallery: what we know and what still needs checking
The tactile tour of 17 September was an experience organised for the group, with a guide prepared for the purpose. It does not mean the whole museum can be called accessible. Palazzo Bovio-Villabruna-Cumano is a sixteenth-century building on several floors, and on the Feltre museums’ website we found no official statement on step-free entrance, lift, accessible toilet, reserved parking, permanent tactile routes, audio guides or sign language.
For now the status is TO BE VERIFIED. The questions are simple and on our list: what is permanent, what can be requested by booking, and from whom.
7. Other experiences and venues
“Campanula morettiana” botanical garden, Val del Mis. The Dolomiti Bellunesi National Park states that the garden, opened in 2008 at the start of the Cadini del Brenton path, was designed with Braille information panels and a relief model of the whole garden, and is fully accessible by wheelchair. This is the operator’s declaration: we do not have a technical survey with gradients and widths.
MyCandy Arena, Lentiai. The venue’s official website lists an accessible toilet with a heated shower. In one of our August articles we also wrote that the drivers’ stand can be reached by people with reduced mobility: we have found no confirmation of this in official sources and are checking it. Status: PARTIAL.
8. Mobility and transport
The adapted vehicle used by the group is good news, but it says nothing about the scheduled network. The latest Dolomiti Bus service charter we could find dates from 2016 and warns that not all buses have a ramp and that each vehicle is approved for only one wheelchair space. We found no up-to-date page with lines, accessible stops, booking arrangements and assistance contacts: that is the information wheelchair users really need, and we will ask for it.
On trains, Gobbo Trioli pointed out that companies treat the companion of a person with disabilities differently: a detail that, for anyone organising a trip, matters as much as a ramp.
9. What is still missing
- An updated survey of the Orsera trail and confirmation of how it relates to the municipal easy-access path.
- The 2026 calendar of the La Santina centre and availability of the accessible toilet outside organised activities.
- An official accessibility sheet for the Rizzarda gallery.
- Gradients, surface and parking of the “Campanula morettiana” garden.
- Accessibility of the drivers’ stand at MyCandy Arena.
- Up-to-date information from Dolomiti Bus on ramp-equipped buses, lines, booking and contacts.
- The published results of “Un Mondo che si Muove” 2026.
10. The path ahead for DolomitiBelluno.it and DOLO+GO
This article is the first in a series, “Accessible Dolomites”. Every place we mention will have its status — verified, declared, partial, to be verified, not available — with the source and the date of the last check, and the same information will go into the DOLO+GO app, where anyone looking for a trail or a museum will see at a glance what is documented and what is not. When a piece of information is missing, we will say so: an empty box is better than a false promise.
If you run a venue, route or service and have technical data to share, write to us: we will publish it with its source.
Further reading: the Dolomiti Bellunesi National Park.
Sources consulted on 23 September 2026: Centro Internazionale del Libro Parlato (2026 programme of “Un Mondo che si Muove”); il Dolomiti (15 September 2026); “Dolomiti Accessibili” sheet for the Orsera trail; municipality of Cesiomaggiore; Dolomiti Bellunesi National Park; MyCandy Arena; Dolomiti Bus service charter 2016.
