Tourism in the Forest and green Lagoons of the Adriatic through historical wooden boats (ToFoLA) is an Interreg Italy-Croatia project funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) within the framework of the European Territorial Cooperation objective of the EU Cohesion Policy 2021-2027.

The TOFOLA project aims to create sustainable tourism products based on the shipbuilding history of the Republic of Venice, diversifying tourism in the Northern Adriatic and promoting underutilized destinations by making them as accessible and inclusive as possible. The project intends to contribute to the development of the cross-border area by promoting the historical memory and local traditions of these regions through the creation of an original route that geographically follows the paths of the wood used for boat production during the historical period of the Serenissima, from the mountains to the sea, connecting two different tourist destinations.

The results the project intends to pursue are manifold: from promoting wood sourced from local supply chains to the use of ICT tools for the design of wooden boats; the definition of a business model for inclusive tourism products, identifying mountain and maritime itineraries, involving both coastal and inland tourism operators. Finally, it is dedicated to the implementation of cross-border educational and training activities to enhance skills, especially among young people.

In particular, the Research Unit of the Human Technology Lab (HTLab), which is part of the Department of General Psychology (DPG) at the University of Padova, will be responsible for designing and conducting co-design activities with elderly people and individuals with disabilities, in order to gather user requirements (e.g., through Focus Groups) to inform the design and development of boat prototypes characterized by high accessibility and inclusiveness. Moreover, the HTLab team will oversee the involvement of groups of the aforementioned target users to evaluate the user experience (e.g., comfort), usability, accessibility, inclusiveness, and acceptance of the boat prototypes that will be developed within the ToFoLa project.