WHO I AM

Pleasure, Alessio: I’m a guy “Proprio in Gamba”

BIOGRAPHY
My story covers cities all over the world each different from one another.
Hi! It’s a pleasure present myself: my name is Alessio, born in 1977 in the city of Florence and later on in my life settled in Milan, where I am still residing.
I studied to be a quantity surveyor, but when I had to interrupt my apprenticeship because in those days one was obliged to do a year of military service, the little interest I had in the subject did the rest and I decided to give it up and do something completely different: computer programmer, and so being, in 2003 I transferred to Milan.
 
This turned out to be the turning point in my life, dying and then being reborn
And so it was that in Milan on the 23rd of November, not far from my home, riding back from work on my Vespa, I was unable to avoid a crash with a car coming towards me from the opposite direction in my same lane. A terrible bang, impossible to forget! Risult being my left arterial femoral artery severed, the leg torn and my life was changed from that very moment on for ever. The following days were spent in hospital where I was more dead than alive. 5 days passed between heart failure and various surgical treatment which destroyed my body and also proved a difficult time for all my loved ones who didn’t want to lose me. Thanks to the perseverance and marvellous work done by the doctors, I managed finally to get through that difficult period. But it also meant that we had to accept a future exclusion to overcome this period: it was necessary for me to have my left leg amputated. All my future plans, all my dreams, all my thoughts, were destroyed that night. I came out of it a changed man, transformed, truly an another person altogether. When I finally was discharged from the hospital, I spent a long stressful period recuperating and reconstruction of my life: each gesture I do, even the most banal, has to be learnt to be done in a different way than before. Each single thing presented itself in a different way evey new day, and therefore what was normal before now had to be analysed, studied and thought over in order to be able to do it once again and get back to a normal life A very tiring task but at the same time it was very stimulating seeing that in a different way, I could do the same things that I did before. And I must admit that whatever I did before, in a different way is not impossible even now.
As the days pass by I am aware of the passion I have to solve these problems, which before I never realised I possessed, but which has now become part of my new life with an unexpected insistence: travelling. Something I wasn’t interested in even when I had two legs! Mainly because of my reluctance to fly.
The present and the future, stronger now than before.
Today I continue to do my job with the same passion as before, surrounded by my same colleagues , by the same friends, and by my family and from when I got married a few years ago, Sonia, the woman I love deeply and who became my wife in 2016. The real difference in respect to before, is that as soon as I am free, I travel. It’s not important to go on a long distance trip: I’ve found out that sometimes it’s enough to go a few kilometers from your home to have some incredible experiences and, why not, you can then let us all know about it using this blog. I don’t give myself limits, but I make sure to be clear in my head what my final object isĀ  to help each of you to travel. How? In every possible way: with precise advice to help you plan your desired trip. Accessible whatever your physical condition is. I’ll accompany you in your searching all over the world, wherever!Helping you to hear other people’s point of view and trying to lead you to thinking about every little thing, that I bet,before you had never even thought about. I am or am I not a “Proprio in Gamba” type?
MISSION
Travel and know the world by dismantling one obstacle at a time
Hindrances and architectural barriers can make everyday life very difficult for a disabled person, so just imagine a Holiday! Where we don’t know in advance what we might find and have to face up to it no matter what: how much stress it could cause.
This blog as I have kept on repeating since the beginning was set up in order to help disabled people and to help them face up to a Holiday prepared in the best possible way, peacefully and with the proper preparation. Here you can find practical information and useful suggestions – constantly renewed – for people who are not permitted the luxury of the unexpected but desires to travel and is not sure where to begin. I’ll give you reviews and objective opinions which will make it easier for you to get to the bottom of the problem: can I do or can I not do this? If yes. then how? Questions which don’t usually crop up and are difficult to give a reply to, especially taking into account the little and chaotic information which one finds on the network, but which turn out to be awfully important for an efficient programme of a holiday planned just for you in a correct accessible travel. However I won’t stop giving you all the possible advice and on top of this if you desire it I will be by your side working and helping you with your programme meticulously for the holiday of your dreams – proposing places and solutions planned only for you and will stay and help you for whatever receptive structure you might desire! I will tell you personally what I think about your proposal. Don’t hesitate to contact me, to divide with me your experiences or to give me any useful information: this blog is for all of us to use, without distinction, because the barriers -mental or architectural – if any, can only be broken down if everybody does their part. Nobody excluded.
CONTRIBUTORS
Prepared, qualified, be smart, Proprio in Gamba
The experts who will accompany us on this holiday, will make it even more appetising, more accessable, easier and curious.