The reduction of the socio-cultural digital divide is one of the priorities of Telecom Italia. Thus, we want to enable the greatest part of the civil society to fully exploit these kinds of technologies

The reduction of the socio-cultural digital divide is one of  the priorities of Telecom Italia, which is aware of how much Internet can do for community development. Thus, in addition to broadband coverage, we need to have the greatest part of the civil society able to fully exploit these kinds of technologies. We pay special attention to the weakest layers of the population and carry out initiatives for the dissemination of the Internet and safe browsing.

Initiatives for the elderly

During 2011, two important projects dedicated to teaching people over the age of 50 the basics of IT and Internet browsing were completed: "Internet Saloon" and "Telemouse".

The first Internet Saloon was started in Milan in 2000 and a further six subsequently opened in Sondrio, Pavia, Catania, Ancona, Bari and Naples (the last three of these were set up in Telecom Italia offices). In eleven years of operation, more than 50,000 people have successfully attended courses.

Telemouse was first arranged in Rome in 2009 and over two years it provided IT courses for around 17,000 people over the age of 50, given by selected students who received educational training credits for their commitment.

NAVIGARE INSIEME

At the end of 2001, all digital literacy campaigns for the elderly were combined into the Navigare Insieme project, based on a web platform which provides a simple and immediate approach to computers and the Internet. The project is implemented with the help of Informatici Senza Frontiere, Scuola Holden, Auser and Confagricoltura Pensionati.