Emma's House opened on January 26th on Viale Puccini, a fourth-floor apartment with elevator—95 square meters plus garage—designed to host young people ages 18 to 35 with intellectual disabilities for two weekends each month, Saturday mornings through Sunday afternoons.
Fourteen residents from the 21 municipalities in Region 9 will rotate through in groups of six, both male and female, accompanied by educators from the It's Time to Go project.
This is the second such apartment dedicated to independent living—another sits on Viale del Lavoro, though that one is rented—designed to foster a slow, gradual transition away from family life while remaining rooted in the everyday reality of the neighborhood. It models a distributed autonomy that makes the local community and its residents its anchor point.
The apartment is named after Emma Petrini, a resident of the local retirement home who died two years ago. She left it to the Asp Region 9 agency through a bequest—"an act of extraordinary generosity," noted Asp Region 9 director Franco Pesaresi at the opening. "She was a difficult person." Also present were city councilor Marialuisa Quaglieri and Cristiana Pesaresi, head of the Asp Region 9 disability services unit.
The future residents attended as well, along with neighbors from both buildings, marking a celebration of the network that made this project possible.
That network includes Asp 9, Umea Asur Av 2, Coos Marche, with active support from the Rotary Club—past president Egiziano Jencinella was present—as well as Cat Impianti and Coltorti Tende.
"If you can dream it, you can do it" read a phrase printed on t-shirts handed out at the house. Director Pesaresi echoed the sentiment: "We're trying different approaches. Many people talk about them, but we're actually doing them, and we're very pleased with how the first apartment has worked out. The young people there manage to cook on their own and stay engaged for hours."
"This is a day of joy," said an enthusiastic Councilor Quaglieri, who cut the ribbon alongside future residents Rebecca Avenali and Maria Rita Di Palma. "Call these projects what you like, but the point is to help these people live independently. We're providing a real, concrete answer. We've brought other groups into this, and it took only a phone call to show that the community is ready to help—and it does so generously."
The project educators are Mariano Fagioli, Silvia Tobaldi, Ilaria Stronati, Marzia Pennisi, Alvaro Sandroni, Gianluca Breccia, and Marco Scarponi. The young residents will share this experience with them, a foundation for building personal identity. They'll pursue activities, visit places, spend time out in the world.
They'll travel in Donata, a seven-seater Lancia Fedra donated by the parents of one of the participants.
Source: QDM Notizie