The Danube is not scary: athletes with and without disabilities challenge 300 kilometers of river to show that inclusion is not a fairy tale.

While Italy is still debating architectural barriers and denied rights , some have decided to dive headfirst into the Danube to prove that inclusion isn't just an empty phrase. From July 24th to 29th , a group of athletes from the Circolo Canottieri 3 Ponti di Roma will tackle the 300-kilometer river from Vienna to Budapest , in what is now the seventh edition of an incredible feat.

The real news? Four athletes with disabilities— Daniela De Blasis, Marco Carapacchio, Nathalie Podda, and Ramona Gelber —will row side by side with able-bodied athletes, on the same crews, facing the same currents and the same dangers. No separate races, no protected categories, no pity . Just pure sport, the kind it should always be but which too often turns into a charity show.

The credit for this quiet revolution goes to the Baroni Foundation , which for the first time decided to embrace the project conceived by Riccardo Dezi and Giulia Benigni . Not just words: the Foundation has put real money on the table, allowing disabled athletes and their companions to participate completely free of charge . A decision that feels like a slap in the face to all those organizations that talk about inclusion but then disappear when it comes to paying.

"The Danube Descent is much more than a sporting feat: it is a powerful symbol of inclusion and courage," said Giuseppe Signoriello , president of the Foundation. These words may seem superficial, but they are backed up by facts: for 50 years, the Baroni Foundation has been funding disability projects, not just recently, to ride the media wave.

The challenge awaiting the athletes is no walk in the park. Six stages in six days , starting with the 50-kilometer first leg from Vienna to Bad Deutsch Altemburg, and ending with the 65-kilometer final leg from Esztergom to Budapest. In between, treacherous currents, large ship traffic, unpredictable weather , and the greatest challenge: managing mixed crews where the disabilities of some must become the strength of all.

Four eight-man boats, two support motorboats, and a challenge : to demonstrate that when it comes to real sport, categories don't matter. That a Paralympic athlete can set the pace for a mixed crew . That inclusion isn't a favor done to the disabled, but an enrichment for everyone.

The Danube is a river that has seen history pass by its banks and that spares no one. The currents are treacherous, the traffic heavy, the weather capricious. But perhaps this is precisely the point: choosing the most difficult challenge to demonstrate that inclusion is not a fairy tale for beautiful souls , but a concrete reality built meter by meter, stroke by stroke.

While elsewhere there is still debate over whether people with disabilities should have the right to the sea or public transportation, these athletes are preparing to conquer one of Europe's most important rivers. Not out of compassion, not out of charity, but out of pure sporting merit. Because they have demonstrated their worth, their ability to be part of a team, their ability to win. On July 29th, when the crews arrive in Budapest , we will have a definitive answer: inclusion is possible, you just have to want it.