Our past inspires us
Our origins are in Cannero Riviera, a magnificent corner of Lake Maggiore where Dutch industrialist Robert Hollman (Maastricht 1890 – Cannero Riviera 1972) decided to live the last years of his life.
Robert Hollman’s love for Italy, sensitivity, and concern for the most fragile led him to allocate significant proportion of his assets to establishing a private, non-profit foundation to care for people with visual impairment.
After he died on 28th December 1972, his final wishes were fulfilled, which made it possible to open the “Pilot Center for Blind and Multi-disabled Children” in Cannero Riviera in 1979, one of the first of its kind in Italy.
In 1986, due to a fire, the Center was temporarily relocated to Padua in a wing of the Institute for the Blind “Luigi Configliachi.”
When the reconstruction works were completed in 1988, the Foundation’s Board decided to keep the Padua Center open and to expand their services, by collaborating with social-health institutions in the area and to maintain the fruitful relationships that they had established. In 2004, the Padua Center moved to a new location enabling it to accommodate more families and provide more services.
In his will , Robert Hollman decided to leave most of his assets to a foundation that, in his name, would take care of blind and deaf-mute people in Italy
In Cannero Riviera on Lake Maggiore, Robert Hollman died on Dec. 28 at the age of 82.
The project to establish the Robert Hollman Foundation in Italy is initiated with the establishment of the Robert Hollman Stichting in Amsterdam.
The first Pilot Center of the Robert Hollman Foundation is opened in Cannero Riviera, on Via Oddone Clerici.
The Center becomes one of the first entities in Italy highly specialized in taking care of children from zero to six years old with visual impairment associated with other disabilities.
In its first year of activity, 8 children are taken in.
A fire destroys part of the Pilot Center, which is temporarily relocated to Padua, thanks to the hospitality of the Luigi Configliachi Institute for the Blind
The Robert Hollman Stichting Board of Directors decides that it will also keep the Center in Padua in operation once the reconstruction work in Cannero Riviera is completed
With the reopening of the Center in Piedmont, there is a shift to an “early intervention” model with multidisciplinary teams and periodic stays of the child with his or her family
The two centers also begin to welcome children with only visual impairment.
TheFriends of the Hollman Center of Padua Association is born
Foundation organizes international conference in Padua “Early Intervention in Children with Visual Impairment”
The Padua Center becomes a full-fledged part of the Robert Hollman Foundation, and plans for a new headquarters are underway.
The Foundation is organizing the international “Eurosight” conference on visual impairment and multidisability in Cannero Riviera.
The Foundation’s new headquarters at 1 Via Siena in Padua is inaugurated .
The management of the two centers is unified, although they retain their own characteristics: outpatient services in Padua and residential services in Cannero Riviera.
The Foundation is organizing the conference “Pediatric neurology and severe visual impairment in Padua. Diagnostic and rehabilitation current events.”
TheBlue Flowers Association was founded by a group of parents who attend FRH with the aim of supporting it in carrying out its clinical, educational, cultural and scientific outreach activities.
The Foundation is organizing in Padua the conference “Beyond Looking: the Friendly Brain. Visual Disability and Brain Plasticity” and the international tactile book competition “Typhlo&Tactus” at the Cannero Riviera venue with playful-educational workshops for local schoolchildren.
The shared project between the Municipality of Padua and the Robert Hollman Foundation to create the inclusive Municipal Park “Treasure Tree” gets underway.
The urban space, designed and built without architectural barriers, promotes social inclusion and relationships. It is co-designed by 17 institutions and social entities, with the Robert Hollman Foundation as lead partner.
FRH publishes its first multicode book “The Treasure of the Enchanted Labyrinth.”
With the collaboration of the City of Padua, the Foundation trains about 80 teachers and involves more than 2,500 children with experiential workshops within the project “Let’s Think, Build, Play… Together. Everyone’s Park.”
A collaboration with the municipality to make the existing public park inclusive is also being launched in Cannero Riviera. The Foundation is providing free training to 50 primary and kindergarten teachers in the municipalities of Bieno, Cannero Riviera, Cannobio, Carciago, Ghiffa, Oggebbio, Traffiume and Vignone, and giving 458 kindergarten and primary school students the inclusive book “The Treasure of the Enchanted Labyrinth” to reflect in the classroom and then in the family on the topic of inclusion.
With the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic , the Foundation is shutting down in-person activities at its two Centers.
Develops and introduces new online and asynchronous modes of operation to leave no one alone and continue to accompany children and families during lockdown and social isolations.
In-person activities resume at the two centers.
Renovation plan for the Cannero Riviera office gets underway.
The Foundation is organizing the international illustrated tactile book competition “Typhlo&Tactus” and the international tactile book exhibition “Pages without Borders” in Padua.
In Cannero, the renovation of the ground floor and the total renovation of the one dedicated to families are completed. The opening takes place in September on the 50th anniversary of Robert Hollman’s death.
FRH joins the European partnership project “See my life” on the quality of life of children with visual impairment to promote their direct participation in society.
Together with 5 other social partners from 4 different European countries, FRH is launching the “Leo Wants a Bat” epub trial as part of the European project “Flex Picture Ebook” within the Erasmus+ program.
November sees the start of the external training proposals: the first course dedicated to the comprehensive approach to the child with visual impairment according to the multidisciplinary perspective of FRH starts.
The Foundation reaches the number of 400 children followed in one year.
“SensoriAbile anch’io” is conceived , a pilot project to raise awareness towards the acceptance in society of people with visual disabilities.
The initiative, carried out with the University of Padua, the Municipality of Padua, Uici Padua and Aniomap, enters its operational phase in August with the involvement of the twelve services of the six chosen areas within the urban context of the city of Padua.
Organizing begins for the 10th International Icevi Europe Conference to be held in Padua, Italy, May 15-17, 2025 on the topic of inclusion in school and society of children and young adults with visual impairment.
Thanks to the generous contribution of the Blue Flowers Association, theaccessible and inclusive play area within the park of the Padua Center is being built and dedicated to all children being cared for and their siblings.
In cooperation with the National Federation of Pro Blind Institutions, FRH is organizing the seventh national tactile publishing contest “It’s Your Turn!” in Bologna at the end of October.
A tactile picture book “Una casa per Fiammetta” (A home for Fiammetta) is edited in 200 copies thanks to Fiori Blu and produced with a group of professional experts in inclusive publishing. The book is donated free of charge to organizations and realities dealing with childhood visual disabilities, pediatric wards of hospital institutions, and major libraries throughout Italy.
