Accessible Italian Holiday

We had not had a family holiday for six years. Kim’s celebral palsy makes walking difficult for her. More recently she has lost what sense of balance she ever had! We had all previously been to Italy, but individually, and were keen to return. We tracked the company down using the internet and communicated with Anglophile, Mr Vincenzo Pomarico into whose English bank account we then poured large portions of our life savings for some months!

Enzo had been quick to recommend suitable i.e. fully adapted accommodation, and to suggest a couple of sightseeing trips we might like to take. He also offered to arrange airport transfer and as it turned out unlimited local and exclusive use of a social services minibus with lift. We were happy to confirm the booking of our first accessible holiday!  Nine months later we were duly met at Rome Ciampino by Enzo and extremely helpful social services volunteer Giulio to drive us to our chosen resort.

The hotel – Villaggio Della Mercede – was perfect. Our room with en-suite bathroom and shower chair was comfortable, the hotel was easily navigable via lifts and ramps, the grounds well cared for, the food (national and local) was excellent and the staff most helpful and polite at all times. The wheelchair allowed us easy and independent access to the well appointed private beach. Over drinks we had two programme planning sessions with Enzo incorporating shopping and ‘lazy’ days. In conversation it became clear that a wheelchair would be more suitable for Kim than the frame we had ordered and within twenty-four hours the switch had been made.

As promised, in Rome, Enzo got us to the front of queues at both the Vatican and the Colosseum. Giulio did the rest with his memorable pleas of “Attenzione!” to the thronging crowds.  Flexibility again came into play when we expressed a preference for a trip to Naples and Sorrento rather than a boat trip to the Pontine Islands which had been planned. Enzo had warned us that not all abbeys, castles and other locations were fully accessible but he did his very best to get the minibus and Kim as near as possible to some of  the wonderful sights which the Lazio and Campania regions have to offer.

One unique feature of our stay was the situation of an exquisite chapel within our hotel complex. We squeezed into a very well attended mass one Sunday and were told the hotel which at one time had acted as an orphanage is owned by an order of monks – Our Lady of Mercy – the Mercedarians.  Their motto:  ‘Redemptionem misit Dominus populo suo’ meaning ‘The Lord has sent redemption to His people’ was to be seen in and around the hotel. Indeed, on the day of our departure there was to be a religious festival in the grounds of the hotel with special services and a procession of dignitaries which of course we unfortunately had to miss.  Good enough reason to return another year!

                                             Kim, Malcolm and Eleanor Golland, September, 2007

Footnote from www.catholic.org the online encyclopaedia:

‘The redemption of captives has always been regarded in the Church as a work of mercy, as is abundantly testified by many lives of saints who devoted themselves to this task. The period of the Crusades, when so many Christians were in danger of falling into the hands of infidels, witnessed the rise of religious orders vowed exclusively to this pious work. In the thirteenth century there is mention of an order of Montjoie, founded for this purpose in Spain, but its existence was brief, as it was established in 1180 and united in 1221 with the Order of Calatrava. Another Spanish order prospered better; this was founded in the thirteenth century by St Peter Nolasco under the title of Our Lady of Mercy ( de la Merced ), whence the name Mercedarians. It soon spread widely from Aragon, and still has several houses at Rome, in Italy, Spain, and the old Spanish colonies.’