New multimedia installations open the season: immersive technology and inclusion to tell the story of life 3,500 years ago
The Terramara Archaeological Park in Montale reopens on Saturday 4 April, inaugurating a new season marked by innovation: new multimedia installations accompany visitors in an even more immersive, inclusive and engaging experience. The reopening, scheduled during the Easter holidays - Saturday 4, Sunday 5 and Monday 6 April - marks the start of a programme that continues until Sunday 7 June, on public holidays and in some extraordinary openings, including Saturday 23 May, on the occasion of the European Night of Museums.
More than twenty years after its inauguration, the Park continues to attract thousands of visitors - more than 300,000 to date - thanks to a proposal capable of combining scientific popularisation and direct involvement, linking past and present and confirming its educational role, particularly aimed at schools, thanks to the work of a highly qualified staff.
Inaugurated in April 2004 as an "open air" section of the Museo Civico di Modena, the Park is dedicated to the terramare, Bronze Age settlements that developed between 1650 and 1150 B.C. in the Po Valley, an identifying element of this territory. Thanks also to the life-size reconstruction of a part of the village, based on data from archaeological excavations with fortifications, production facilities, dwellings, the experience of visiting the Park becomes a deep immersion in the world of 3,500 years ago.
A new chapter opens today with the 'Open Air & Open Use' project. Promoted by the Municipality of Modena and financed with 315,000 euro by PNRR, the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, and supplemented by European funds from the Emilia-Romagna Region PORFESR 2021-2027 (Regional Operational Programme of the European Regional Development Fund), the project faces the challenge of integrating the site's strong materiality with the digital dimension.
Video and audio installations, virtual reconstructions, holographic projections and immersive environments make the understanding of archaeological processes and contexts more immediate, broadening accessibility and promoting more inclusive and engaging modes of enjoyment. These are complemented by tools designed for all audiences, such as audio descriptions, tactile maps, sign language content and written texts.
The Park's new project and the programme for the inauguration of the multimedia installations were presented this morning, 2 April, at Terramara during a press conference attended by Andrea Bortolamasi, councillor for Culture of the Municipality of Modena; Daniela Sirotti Mattioli, deputy mayor of Castelnuovo; Eugenia Valacchi, superintendent of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the provinces of Modena, Reggio Emilia and Ferrara; Andrea Cardarelli, president of the Italian Institute for Prehistory and Protohistory and founder of the Park; Valentina Galloni, director and Cristiana Zanasi, curator of the Archaeology section of the Civic Museum of Modena and Terramara Park.
"The Montale Park is a mine of information already present in the didactic apparatuses and narrated by the operators who guide the visits. The important renovation project that introduces new multimedia installations in the excavation area and in the path dedicated to the necropolis, marking a turning point in the fruition of the site, is part of that relationship between culture and digital languages that has led Modena to become a Unesco Creative City from 2021, with the aim of stimulating curiosity and reflection through a multisensory approach that generates a more direct link between the visitor and the events of 3500 years ago".
The park was created in an area adjacent to the site of the Bronze Age settlement thanks to European resources and the joint efforts of the municipalities of Modena and Castelnuovo Rangone.
"For twenty years," comments deputy mayor Sirotti Mattioli, who is also Castelnuovo's tourism councillor, "it has been an honour for us to host this park in the municipal area, which is the result of a great collaboration with the Civic Museum and the Municipality of Modena. The thousands of visits in these years of activity are, more than any other word, the testimony of how this place is a true and invaluable collective heritage, not only at a provincial level but also at an Italian and European level".
The realisation of the project bears the signature of the company Santimone - Delumen srl, specialised in multimedia installations for cultural heritage, which worked in close dialogue with the Park's scientific management. The animations are based on illustrations by Riccardo Merlo, redesigned in dynamic form with advanced digital technologies, including artificial intelligence.
With this project, the Park reinforces its role as a national reference for public and experimental archaeology, projecting itself into a new phase of valorisation.
