AKU-Ambassador

DANIELE MATTERAZZO

Environmental hiking guide & traveler

Daniele Matterazzo is an environmental hiking guide and traveler . Every year since 2020, Daniele has spent his free time on ambitious , strictly solo walking journeys . After the first Camino de Santiago, a real revelation, he transformed his passion for walking into an awareness and fundraising tool . His challenges aim to overcome the limits imposed by disability and to support associations that deal with inclusion. At the age of 15 he was involved in a car accident and the serious injuries he suffered caused him a permanent physical disability , compromising the use of his left forearm and partially of his shoulder ever since.

It is precisely the long walks that give new life to his life. In 2020 the Camino de Santiago , then the Via Francigena from the San Bernardo Pass to Rome. Starting from that journey, at each departure he started fundraising for various non-profit associations, walking not only for himself but also for others. Follows the King's Path in Lapland, 440km immersed in nature and harsh climatic conditions.

In the summer of 2023 it is the turn of the crossing of Iceland , a project carried out together with Simone Salvagnin, the first two people with disabilities to complete the feat.

" I love the fact of arriving in that metaphysical reality which is being outside "home", away from what is known but also simply being in the open air. I feel that the outdoors is my dimension: it makes me feel good. "