A facility was set up in Modena in 1942 dedicated to people with severe and profound disabilities. Today, it boasts around 160 employees and provides services for both disabilities and services for minors and their families, with a specialisation in taking care of the most difficult situations from a behavioural point of view. For FARE INSIEME Charity, Lucrezia Lanzani interviewed the Chairman Mauro Rebecchi and the Director Chiara Arletti
FARE INSIEME CHARITY is the spin-off of the FARE INSIEME project dedicated to the presentation of some onlus and non-profit associations with roots in the area around Bologna, Ferrara and Modena and that carry out extraordinarily important and crucial work for the entire community. Here are some of their stories.
by Lucrezia Lanzani*
“Opening: the action or result of an opening gesture, meaning making a gap, object or closed space accessible.”
ASP Ghirlandina was set up in 1942 on the initiative of Mario Gelosa. It was a time when disability was often excluded from social life, so Gelosa decided to create a facility in Modena dedicated to welcoming people with severe and profound disabilities.
“Disabilities had a bad name in 1942,” recalls the Chairman Mauro Rebecchi. “That is why Gelosa opened this facility using his own funds, to welcome people that would otherwise remain at the margins of society.”
Over the years, the facility grew to accommodate around 440 people. Afterwards, with the evolution of the Italian welfare system and the obsolescence of large institutions, the model changed profoundly. “While we used to welcome many more people in the past, today we specialise in more complex situations. We currently accommodate people with disabilities that cannot be managed by their families and, in many cases, not even by other residential facilities,” explains Rebecchi.
Today, ASP Ghirlandina represents one of the most specialised facilities in the Modena area when it comes to severe and profound disabilities. In 2025, it merged with another Modena ASP dealing with minors and fragile families, therefore further widening its scope of action. “We currently employ around 160 people and manage services that deal with both disability, minors and their families,” stresses Rebecchi.
One of the aspects that characterises the activities of ASP Ghirlandina concerns its specialisation in the management of disabilities coupled with severe behavioural disorders. “Over the past few years, we have specialised in the most difficult situations from a behavioural point of view. We are talking about people who may have aggressive or self-harming behaviour requiring very specific care,” explains the Director Chiara Arletti.
The increase in the diagnoses linked with the autistic spectrum and behavioural problems is posing new challenges to the entire system. “There are still few answers available and there is a limited number of specialised facilities. That is why we have invested heavily in staff training and in the definition of procedures and research,” continues the Director.
Over the past few years, ASP Ghirlandina has in fact begun collaborating with the Bologna CNR, the University and the Local Health Service. “We are working on several research projects that have already led to scientific publications. To us, research is not a separate activity from the assistance service, but it is a tool to improve the quality of our interventions,” illustrates the Chairman.
Alongside research, the everyday lives of guests remain pivotal.
“Our facility is arranged in small groups of seven or eight people. We try to recreate the context of a small community as much as possible,” explains Arletti.
Activities range from creative workshops to sports activities, from days out to experiences in local businesses. “Our guests carry out activities that enable them to take on a role and assume responsibilities,” says the Director. “We are not talking about productivity in the traditional sense of the word, but about journeys that favour personal growth, independence and inclusion.”
Opening out into the territory is of central importance to ASP Ghirlandina. “What we are trying to do is to open up this facility to the city more and more,” explains the Chairman Rebecchi. “We want to go beyond the idea of a closed facility and establish collaborations with associations, volunteers, schools and businesses.”
This mindset is what has given rise to projects such as the sailing activities organised together with the Controvento association, which enables wheelchair-users to experience sailing, and to that of adapted bicycles that enable guests to ride in the city parks in the company of volunteers.
For ASP Ghirlandina, however, this idea of opening up does not just involve activities. It also involves the role that a facility such as this one can play within the community. “We welcome students, interns, volunteers and trainees. We believe we can contribute to raising awareness of the issues of fragility and inclusion,” concludes Chiara Arletti.
It is a vision that sums up the evolution of ASP Ghirlandina very well - a facility set up over 80 years ago to respond to a need and that has grown into a place of culture, research, training and relationship with the local territory.
*Lucrezia Lanzani is a former student of Liceo Steam Emilia, who is now studying Communication Science at the University of Amsterdam. She is eighteen years old and has always been interested in social issues. For more than three years, she has been volunteering in various organizations in her community.
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