At Bari Airport, the Sensory Room is back in operation, an area designed to make the travel experience more peaceful, accessible, and welcoming, especially for passengers with autism spectrum disorders and their families. The room, already present at the Bari airport for over ten years, was created as an autism room as part of the pilot project “Autism, traveling through the airport,” developed in collaboration with ENAC and became the first project of its kind in Italy.
After a renovation, the space restarts with the goal of reducing stress and sensory overload that can make the airport experience more difficult.
The Sensory Room allows for a more tranquil management of the wait before departure and until boarding, offering an environment with fewer stimuli where one can relax, regain calm, or simply spend time away from the noise and confusion of the airport. One of the most interesting aspects of the service is the possibility to visit the room before the travel day through an assisted familiarization path.
In this way, the passenger and their companions can get to know the spaces in advance, meet the staff, and familiarize themselves with the different stages of the journey. The goal is to make some moments more predictable that, especially for those who are particularly sensitive to crowded environments and rich stimuli, can generate anxiety: from arrival at the airport to internal pathways, from security checks to waiting areas, up to boarding procedures.
Knowing these steps in advance means arriving on the day of departure already familiar with part of the experience.
The use of the Sensory Room occurs with the support of a specialized assistant, who accompanies the passenger and can adapt tools and assistance methods to the needs of the individual. At the base of the project is the awareness that the airport can be a particularly complex environment: announcements, noises, lights, checks, waits, and continuous changes can represent a significant load of stimuli.
For this reason, the Sensory Room is not just a physical space, but is part of a broader path of accessibility and attention to the individual, with the aim of making the airport experience more inclusive.
«Traveling is a right of every person», emphasized the president of Aeroporti di Puglia Antonio Maria Vasile, highlighting how inclusion must translate into concrete conditions that allow everyone to face travel with greater serenity.
The reopening of the Sensory Room also comes at a time of strong growth in Puglia's airport traffic. According to data cited by Aeroporti di Puglia, in August, Bari airport recorded an 11.7% increase compared to the same period last year, while Brindisi marked a +10.1%.
In an increasingly busy airport system, making spaces accessible and welcoming for a larger number of travelers thus becomes an integral part of the quality of the tourist experience.
The Sensory Room in Bari goes precisely in this direction: not to eliminate the complexities of travel, but to help those in need face them with greater tranquility, support, and autonomy.
