Recent analyses show that, despite clear regulations, the state of accessibility both in Italy and abroad remains discouraging. According to an international report, The WebAim Million (WebAim, 2025), an analysis of one million web pages revealed that each page contains an average of 57 accessibility errors, and 96% of website homepages have at least one issue of non-compliance with the accessibility guidelines defined by W3C (W3C, 2008). The situation in Italy is very similar. According to the latest monitoring report on accessibility by AGID—the Agency for Digital Italy (AGID, 2025)— only 2% of PDF documents made available on the surveyed websites are free from errors. Furthermore, over 27% of websites fail to meet Type A criteria, and are therefore completely inaccessible to one or more categories of users with disabilities.

What is the cause of this situation, despite the Stanca Law (Law No. 04/2004), which aims to guarantee equal access to all online services, having been in force for over 20 years? The legislation clearly establishes this right and requires all entities offering services to the public via the web or mobile applications with a turnover exceeding 500 million euros in the past three years to complete an accessibility declaration, include it in the website footer, and provide feedback mechanisms for reporting problems (Determination No. 117/2022). Furthermore, the legislation has recently been updated to align with the European Accessibility Act—Directive (EU) 2019/882—which requires that all digital products or services made available to the public after 28 June 2025  must be accessible.

While, on the one hand, the legislation promotes the creation of accessible products and services, on the other hand, developers and manufacturing companies appear not to be responding to this demand. A questionnaire conducted in 2022¹ with 53 web developers revealed that 94.3% were already familiar with the topic of accessibility, and 64% disagreed with the notion of considering it merely a regulatory obligation. Developers have therefore recognised that accessibility must be considered throughout the development process (77%); however, only 15.09% of the sample reported feeling competent on this topic, and fewer than 2% described themselves as very competent. When asked whether having skills in accessibility is important,  35.85% stated that it is important, while 33.96% stated that it is very important.

These data indicate that developers recognise the importance of accessibility, but they lack the necessary skills. Therefore, the training of web developers and designers becomes fundamentally important.

There is a strong demand for tools or software that support the testing or development of accessible websites. Unfortunately, however, no verification tool exists that is free from false positives, nor is there a website creation tool capable of guaranteeing full accessibility. Even the latest tools using artificial intelligence have yet to resolve the issue. There is, therefore, no shortcut; developers must instead rise to the challenge through proper training.

As part of its third mission activities, the "Tullio Levi-Civita" Department of Mathematics has been organising the Accattivante Accessibile (Captivating Accessible) competition for the past four years, rewarding the most aesthetically pleasing and accessible website. The competition is open to students from the Universities of Padua and Bologna (Cesena Campus). The jury comprises a range of professionals, including accessibility experts and individuals with disabilities. The websites are evaluated both in terms of graphic design and for the absence of digital barriers for individuals with disabilities. The final award ceremony also serves as a training opportunity, which over the years has involved both students and professionals. This year, the event took place on March 20.

The organisation of the competition has led to increased interest in accessibility among students of the Web Technologies course within the Computer Science degree at the University of Padua, as well as a marked improvement in the quality of the websites submitted as final course projects. Furthermore, each year, new professionals from various companies attend and show interest in the event.

Another way to engage developers more effectively in training activities is to demonstrate how remediating a website can also lead to improved positioning in search engine rankings. The latter, in fact, as software agents, can be compared to users with total visual disabilities. Making a website accessible to this category of users therefore has the added benefit of enhancing its comprehensibility for search engines, with a consequent improvement in positioning in the response pages (Search Engine Response Page, SERP). Improved positioning makes websites more discoverable and appealing to users, therefore ultimately more profitable.

Accessibility, therefore, should not be seen merely as an obligation, but as an opportunity for all.

¹ Questionnaire conducted as part of research activities for internal use and not published.