Polymnia. Studi di Archeologia n.13

In recent years, museums, research institutions, cultural institutes, professionals and associations have promoted projects dedicated to adapting and expanding the community’s access to cultural heritage. The University of Trieste, engaged since 2005 in the excavation of the insula between the Forum and the fluvial port, retraces the participatory archaeology activities carried out in the nearly twenty years of presence in Aquileia. Among the main interventions carried out are listed workshops and assisted paths on the construction site, conferences, teaching aids and exhibitions, which show how the excavation-school has opened up to the community.

The renovation and set up of the Aquileia Museum entailed actions aimed at improving the physical and sensorial use of the spaces and contents of the exhibition itinerary. The visit experience was improved with the overcoming of architectural barriers and the creation of new welcoming services: the ticket office with the tactile orientation map, a multifunctional space for events and new toilet facilities more suitable for families with children. The exhibition itinerary was integrated with an audio-described tactile itinerary, with new free digital tools (apps) and video guides in LIS, in order to guarantee alternative tools for enjoying the collection.

The renovation and set up of the Aquileia Museum entailed actions aimed at improving the physical and sensorial use of the spaces and contents of the exhibition itinerary. The visit experience was improved with the overcoming of architectural barriers and the creation of new welcoming services: the ticket office with the tactile orientation map, a multifunctional space for events and new toilet facilities more suitable for families with children. The exhibition itinerary was integrated with an audio-described tactile itinerary, with new free digital tools (apps) and video guides in LIS, in order to guarantee alternative tools for enjoying the collection.

Visitare luoghi di cultura, come i musei o i siti archeologici, è un’esperienza che si fa da giovani, a volte perché accompagnati dai familiari, spesso durante il periodo di frequenza scolastica in continuità con tematiche e materie trattate durante le lezioni. Tale esperienza rimane nel cuore e negli interessi di molte persone e si rivela un’opportunità educativa per tutta la vita adulta, quando siamo noi a scegliere, anche sulla base dei nostri interessi personali, dove recarci e quali tipologie di musei o siti visitare. Poter fruire del patrimonio culturale significa dunque avere accesso ad un bene comune e tale aspirazione non deve essere solo riservata a coloro che vengono definiti “addetti ai lavori”, ma deve rivolgersi a tutti i potenziali interessati, considerando le differenze di età, di preparazione culturale, di capacità di partecipazione. Anche la presenza di varie disabilità contribuisce alla messa in discussione del bene comune e del diritto di avvalersene da parte delle persone che ne sono portatrici. A questo proposito la Convenzione Onu sui Diritti delle Persone con Disabilità (2006) fa esplicito riferimento, all’art. 9, alla necessità di garantire l’accessibilità alle strutture ai servizi offerti al pubblico, ricordandoci contemporaneamente, all’art. 30, il diritto a prendere parte alla vita culturale, ricreativa e sportiva. Un pensiero di questo tipo ribalta la visione centrata sull’individuo per spostarla sul contesto, è infatti quest’ultimo che deve attrezzarsi per accogliere tipologie diverse di pubblico, chiedendosi come può attrezzarsi per rendere le visite più interattive, stimolanti e attente alle esigenze di svariati visitatori. Si tratta di vere e proprie sfide, che portano innanzitutto a una diversa visione dello scopo dei beni pubblici che intendono condividere il compito di svolgere un ruolo attivo nella società, rimuovendo gli ostacoli che impediscono di incorporare le diversità per favorire l’uguaglianza e i diritti di tutti.

#smARTradio® is a project by the Radio Magica Foundation in collaboration with Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and the University of Udine, Italy. The project aims to disseminate and promote knowledge of the Italian cultural heritage to a targeted audience of families with children –– including those with visual, hearing and/or intellectual disabilities –– through audio and video stories penned by renowned Italian authors. In this paper, we will focus on the UNESCO archaeological site of Aquileia in north-eastern Italy to show how the use of a Talking Map® can enable access to and ease the understanding of historical and archaeological contents. The success of the Talking Map, which was fully endorsed by a sample of more than one hundred primary and secondary school teachers in grades 1-12, has also made it possible to develop complementary projects, which make the visiting experience enjoyable for specific target groups.

Studio D Archaeology Didactics Museology designs and implements activities for the world of School, Tourism and for all those who wish to “LIVE” museums, History and Archaeology as protagonists accompanied by archaeologists and art historians specialized in the didactics of antiquity. It operates in various museums and archaeological areas of state and civic property, in synergy with the directorates, offering different audiences the opportunity to approach the world of Cultural Heritage, in an inclusive way and stimulating “the pleasure of knowledge” while respecting the scientific rigor of the content disseminated. In particular, the Aquileia branch has seen the implementation of the projects “Let's start again from the past with a touch of antiquity” intended for students enrolled in the first year of first and second grade secondary schools, “The Museum for Children - Aquileia Campus” for kindergarten children, “With the Voice of the Ancients” aimed at adults and history and archaeology enthusiasts, and “Instrumenta Design Junior 2020” for students aged between 6 and 14, a format extended to 8 other museums in the Veneto region. Among the various experiences in which “museums go into the classroom” we highlight the implementation of the ArcheoMuseo at a school in the province of Padua.

The Villaggio del Pescatore is located in the province of Trieste. It was built to give asylum to about forty fishermen families who came from the territories that had been ceded to the former Yugoslavia, between 1951 and 1952. The site is located in an environmental and transitional area, where the characteristics of the Karst hills tend to hybridise with those of the coast. Distinguished by palaeontological, archaeological, and historical evidence, this area coexists with an infrastructural and industrial zone. The Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, MIBACT and the Municipality of Duino Aurisina signed an Agreement aimed at the creation of a naturalistic, archaeological, and palaeontological park. This paper presents the potentials and limits of this project in terms of accessibility, inclusion, sustainability. This paper, in addition, aims to illustrate the work done by the University of Trieste in the field of accessibility at Villaggio del Pescatore.

“T-essere memoria” is a project dedicated to people who live with Alzheimer’s disease and their caregivers and aims to restitute to the public the archaeological heritage preserved and enhanced at the Museo delle Palafitte (Pile-dwelling Museum) in Fiavé, thus making the museum a place of encounter and social inclusion, where meaningful and rewarding experiences can be made. Moments of encounter in the museum and in residential facilities can stimulate emotionally involving and pleasant experiences and help to create well-being in people with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias. The project was conceived and carried out by the Educational Services of the Archaeological Heritage Office of the Autonomous Province of Trento with an experimental phase in 2015 in collaboration with the Azienda per i Servizi alla Persona ‘Margherita Grazioli’ in Povo (Tn).

In 2019 the Aquileia Foundation announced a design competition with the aim of studying innovative solutions to enhance the archaeological areas of the River Port, the Forum, and the so-called decumanus of Aratria Galla, and make them more usable and accessible to a diversified audience, in particular to people with motor, cognitive and sensory disabilities. The competition was part of the “Usefall” project – “UNESCO site experience for all”, a Interreg V-A Italy- Croatia 2014-2020 cross-border cooperation program. The Competition, that led to the Technical-Economic Feasibility project, represents an important opportunity to achieve a further step towards the creation of the future Archaeological site of the city of Aquileia, which the Foundation has launched as an integrated part of the Strategic Plan for the archaeological areas of the city, as described in the management plan

This paper aims to illustrate the work done by the State Tactile Museo Omero in the field of accessibility. The staff of the Museum carries out many activities not only within the Museum itself, but also in other realities both as trainers and as specialized professionals. This paper, in addition, reports some basic concepts on accessibility for people with visual disabilities and beyond, and aims to demonstrate how inclusion and accessibility best practices are spreading and taking shapes in museum activities and itineraries in recent years. In particular, the case of the National Museum and Archaeological Area of Altino is illustrated.