Medu at Casa Rider – Florence

In Florence there is Casa Rider, a place of shelter, rest, and social exchange where the city’s delivery riders can stop, recharge their energy, and access a variety of services. Casa Rider was born in 2025 to provide information and support to those who work delivering our food, riding on the streets in all kinds of weather conditions. 

In just one year, as reported by CGIL TOSCANA, 1.120 accesses to the services offered were recorded: rest facilities, hygiene services, union support, a cycle workshop, bureaucratic assistance, legal consultations, medical check-ups, and educational meetings with schools on workplace safety and road regulations. 

This achievement has been made possible thanks to the commitment of the people who animate and keep this space alive on a daily basis. Medici per i Diritti Umani (Doctors for Human Rights) also participates in Casa Rider with a multidisciplinary team of doctors and operators, providing basic health care and orientation to the local socio-health services once a month. From our first meetings, it has become clear that many riders face obstacles in accessing a general practitioner, often due to linguistic and cultural barriers. 

We met Usman (a pseudonym), who has lived in Italy for 15 years. He previously worked in agriculture as a beekeeper, a job he greatly enjoyed, but that did not provide a sufficient income to live on or support his family in Pakistan. For this reason, he decided to move to the city. For several years now, he has been working as a delivery rider and he told us that, even with formal employment, he struggles to take care of his health. 

Navigating the healthcare system can often be complicated: booking an appointment and understanding who to turn to requires time and energy that, after many hours spent on the road, he doesn’t always have. 

Our team, in addition to providing initial medical assistance, works so that every rider can know their rights, orient themselves within the health system, and not be excluded.