Founded in 2015, the Gianluca Spina association annually awards the homonymous prize for Digital Innovation in Cultural Heritage and Activities. A recognition to the cultural players who have been able to combine the artistic aspects with the technological ones, in the best possible way, in projects with a high innovative and economic impact.
This year the Gianluca Spina Association and the Digital Innovation Observatory in Cultural Heritage and Activities of the Politecnico di Milano have evaluated several proposals among which they have selected the following 3 finalists:
- Circo Maximo Experience (Circus Maximus Archeological area, Rome)
- Brera Plus (Pinacoteca di Brera)
- MArTA 3.0 (Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Taranto)
Circo Maximo Experience among the best for the second year in a row
The Circo Maximo Experience project reached the podium in the last edition, while it got a special mention last year.
The archaeological area of the Circus Maximus was reopened in 2016 after several years of work and the Capitoline Superintendence decided to enhance the site using Augmented and Virtual Reality techniques.
In terms of complexity and technologies used, the project is unique in its nature. In particular, it was the first time that such an advanced approach was used on an outdoor site of this size.
If you want to know more about the project, refer to this article.
Even though the pandemic outbreak forced the Archaeological Area of Circus Maximus to restrict or suspend completely the immersive tour, there is still a great interest around the solution and how it allowed tourists to experience it in a completely new way.
The good news is that the Circus Maximus site is now open and restrictions are being progressively lifted, allowing visitors from Italy and abroad to get the tickets for one of the most innovative archeological experiences available right now globally.
The jury of Premio Gianluca Spina awarded the first prize to the MArTA 3.0 project of the National Archaeological Museum of Taranto, responsible, among other activities, for the digitization of 40,000 artwork and the creation of a large open source and open data database with Creative Commons licenses.