The digital value sharing experiment was presented at the event "Promoting Cultural Heritage: The Challenge of Combining Sustainability, Innovation, and Territoriality"
Enhance cultural, environmental, and tourism heritage, while also establishing a regional network that fosters the exchange of values, knowledge, and attractiveness. These are the objectives behind the strategic partnership between National Archaeological Museum of Taranto – MArTA and Castellana Caves (Ba), based on an experiment by digital value sharing whose launch took place on the occasion of the event “Promoting cultural heritage: the challenge of combining sustainability, innovation, and territoriality,” event sponsored byUniversity of the Studi of Bari “Aldo Moro” and Polytechnic of Bari, which took place on Saturday 11 December 2021 in the Grave cave of the Castellana Caves.
The innovative experiment involving two of the main tourist attractions of the Puglia Region, conceived in collaboration with the marketing and communications agency Never Before Italia, connects MArTA and the Castellana Caves through innovation. On the one hand, a 3D reproduction of the symbolic face of the MArTA (a funerary clay statue with a diadem), created with the contribution of MArTA Lab and the art master Domenico Galluzzi, will represent the showcase of the National Archaeological Museum of Taranto inside the Castellana Caves. On the other hand, a virtual tour of the shining White Grotto, the result of a 3D scan of the karst site created by Digitarca, will be available at the MArTA and will allow tourists to admire one of the iconic caves of the Castellana karst site in Taranto. In their dedicated corners, visitors will be able to experience the charm of these two tourist attractions while also purchasing an entrance ticket from the partner institution.
“It is about value that we transmit and share in a sustainable – explains the Director of MArTA, Eva Degl'Innocenti – thanks to the contribution of our Fab Lab, a creative digital craft laboratory equipped with 3D printers and scanners, laser cutting machines, and robotics kits. MArTA is the only Italian national museum to have a permanent Fab Lab within its walls: the MArTA Lab. This is a tribute to Apulian heritage that we are entrusting to our exceptional ambassador: the 3D reproduction, created within the MArTA Lab, of the polychrome MArTA head, one of our signature artifacts, which will be housed in the Castellana Caves and will create a connection with MArTA, Taranto, Magna Graecia, and the Mediterranean. A dialogue based on research, education, collective memory, and active citizenship, sealed in this important moment of discussion with scholars and experts in culture, tourism, and technological innovation.
“Events like the one celebrated today inside the Grave, which marked the beginning of a strategic partnership between the Castellana Caves and the MArTa Archaeological Museum of Taranto, demonstrate that discussing culture, sustainability, and innovation is fundamental to the development of tourism assets. – underlines the President of the Board of Directors of Grotte di Castellana Victor Casulli Over the past four years, Grotte di Castellana has focused not only on environmental sustainability, a key statutory requirement, but also on accounting and financial sustainability, managing to triple its net worth compared to the company's first 18 years.
The event at the Castellana Caves also provided an opportunity to focus on the theme of heritage valorization, following the three pillars of sustainability, innovation, and territoriality, thanks to the contributions of distinguished speakers. In addition to the Director of the MArTA Eva Degl'Innocenti, attended Prof. Giuliano Volpe of the University of Bari “Aldo Moro” and President Emeritus of the Superior Council of Cultural and Landscape Heritage of the MiBACT, the Prof. Stefano Dell'Atti of the University of Foggia and the Prof. Stefano Miani of the University of Udine. The president of the board of directors of the Castellana Caves will host the event. Victor Casulli, while the institutional greetings were those of the Mayor of Castellana Grotte Francesco De Ruvo, from the Prof. Stefano Bronzini, Rector of the University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, of the Prof. Fabio Fatiguso, Pro Rector of the Polytechnic of Bari, of the Prof. Riccardo Pagano, Director of the Ionian Department of the University of Bari "Aldo Moro", of thelawyer Augusto dell'Erba, President of the Italian Federation of Cooperative Credit Banks and Rural Banks and president of the BCC CRA of Castellana Grotte, of theHon. Ubaldo Pagano, Member of the Budget Committee of the Chamber of Deputies. The meeting was introduced and moderated by Prof. Vincenzo Pacelli, Professor of “Economics of Financial Intermediaries” at the University of Bari “Aldo Moro”.
"Opportunities for universities, scientific research, and the business sector to meet and discuss ideas, like today's event, aimed at exchanging experiences and knowledge and building collaborations and synergies, should always be encouraged and encouraged because they generate marketable economic and social value." – highlights the Prof. Vincenzo Pacelli.
"It is no longer possible to protect, enhance, and manage such a widespread and complex cultural heritage as Italy's, and Puglia's in particular, without actively involving citizens and overcoming an anachronistic divide between public and private. – adds the Prof. Giuliano Volpe This will only be possible if, thanks to knowledge, everyone is aware of the value of heritage in improving the quality of their lives, creating skilled employment opportunities, and a healthy, sustainable economy. This will be done in full compliance with the principles of the European Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society (Faro 2005) and Article 9 itself, which assigns the task of protecting the "landscape and historical and artistic heritage of the Nation" to the Republic, that is, to all public institutions and to the entire res publica, understood as the community of citizens.
"Cultural tourism represents a strategic resource for our country, which can count on one of the largest collections of Heritage Assets in the world, and the Castellana Caves and the MArTA represent two extraordinary examples of tourist attractions, whose collaboration will certainly create economic, social, and cultural value."- concludes the Prof. Stefano Dell'Atti.
