In October 2024, youth workers, educators, and activists from nine countries gathered in Abruzzo, Italy, for a Study Visit exploring how natural protected areas can support inclusion, education, and youth participation. The initiative, part of a larger Erasmus+ project, focused on the role of nature as a space for learning, belonging, and community engagement.
The group began their journey in Atri, exploring the “calanchi” (badlands) landscape and taking part in a workshop by Associazione L’Istrice. Together with people from a local mental health center, participants learned to identify wild herbs and prepare pesto, discovering how hands-on environmental education can foster connection and inclusion.
In Roseto degli Abruzzi, they visited the Borsacchio Nature Reserve and explored the coastal dunes through a storytelling session centered on the life of the Kentish plover. The experience highlighted the impact of beach tourism and the essential role of community volunteers in conservation.
The visit to Maiella National Park offered a deeper look into mountain ecosystems, park management, and environmental education. At the Paolo Barrasso Visitor Center in Caramanico Terme, participants met with park staff and civil service volunteers to reflect on how national parks can offer young people spaces to learn, grow, and contribute.
The final stop was Rurabilandia, a social farm near Atri where people with disabilities work alongside professionals in agriculture and hospitality. Through shared meals, storytelling, and bread-making, participants experienced a powerful example of inclusion in action.
Then participants reflected and worked on how to reproduce in each local context the good practices visited in the previous day and realised the Dossier as a tool to disseminate and promote the knowledge acquired in the project.
The week offered a diverse and inspiring look at how protected areas can be used as tools for ecological awareness and social inclusion. To explore the stories, reflections, and creative outputs from this project, we invite you to download the full publication.
