Athens Embassy Hosts Events Highlighting Inclusion of People with Disabilities

Athens: In a week dedicated to the theme of social inclusion of people with disabilities, the Embassy invited to Athens the Teatro Patologico, the Roman association directed by Dario D’Ambrosi that stages professional actors and boys and girls with mental disabilities.

According to Ansa News Agency, the two performances of Euripides’ Medea, attended last Thursday by Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli and his Greek counterpart Lina Mendoni, were held in the historic setting of the Karolos Koun Theatre, in the heart of the Greek capital, and were a great success with the public and critics. This was stated in a communiqu©. The performances were accompanied by a seminar on ‘Art and Disability’, with a speech by Dario D’Ambrosi focusing on the role of art as a tool to overcome the obstacles represented by mental illness.

In parallel, the Embassy welcomed Nave Italia of the Italian Navy, the largest operational brig in the world, on its first trip abroad. The ship, which the Tender To Nave Italia Foundation has been running for thirty years, is committed to the social inclusion of disabled people. It brought on board some 200 young people in cooperation with Greek associations active in the field of disability, guiding them to discover life on board.

The Embassy celebrated the passage of the Pathological Theatre and Nave Italia to Greece with a reception at the Yacht Club of Greece. This event was attended not only by the theatre troupe and the crew of the brig, but also by Greek authorities, representatives of the nautical sector, and civil society. At the end of the week, a regatta was held in Piraeus in honour of the Italian brig, organised by the Yacht Club itself. “The inclusion of people with disabilities represents a traditional priority of Italian foreign policy,” underlined Ambassador Paolo Cuculi. He further noted that the great success achieved by the initiatives promoted in Athens by the Embassy confirms that the Pathological Theatre and Nave Italia are two excellences of Italy in a crucial sector for the wellbeing of people, their families, and the whole society, projecting models of Italy at the forefront on these issues.