“Visitor Center” for innovative tourism, for a new way of communicating the artisan value and making the workshops known everywhere and remotely. It is a Confartigianato project SICILY and aims to tell the story of Sicilian high craftsmanship through an immersive journey capable of involving the visitor and offering unique content to those who want to discover the island and its culture. A sequence of multimedia installations, with a strong emotional impact, involves travelers and non-travelers, in a journey that suggests new itineraries of discovery throughout the SICILY. An innovative gateway that will allow visitors to have, in an intense and effective way, a greater awareness of the enormous cultural heritage preserved and renewed by Sicilian master craftsmen. The presentation this morning, May 10, in the Belvedere room of the Chamber of Commerce, between viewers and videos, thanks to Upskill 4.0 spin-off of the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice which is implementing the project on behalf of Confartigianato SICILY. With over 16 million and 462 thousand visitors, the SICILY closed 2023 with an increase in visitors of 10.8% compared to the previous year, effectively exceeding the pre-pandemic numbers of 2019. The Visitor Center aims to be a response to the growing number of visitors in SICILY and aims to best communicate the great artisan heritage of this area. It is a highly innovative space from a technological point of view which intends to involve the visitor and provide a precise indication of the possible visit itinerary of the SICILYthrough an immersive, immediate and highly engaging augmented and virtual reality experience.
The visit inside the Visitor Center will be divided into three spaces, ideally inspired by the various environments in which the Roman baths were divided, each with different functions: in the first room there will be immersive projections on the cultural heritage of the SICILY; in the second room educational content to let the visitor know the story behind the artisanal products and in the third room a more interactive final moment where we move on to more experiential aspects, such as physically touching the product, purchasing it or ordering it or even booking guided tours in the artisan workshops . In this pilot project, eight Sicilian companies were involved: Arte Pupara by Daniel Mauceri from Ortigia, Ciocofficina from Noto, Campisi Conserve from Marzamemi; Valvo dairy in Enna; Magma Luxury of Enna; Idealcaffè Stagnitta of Palermo; Ceramicando of Palermo; Mosaic Laboratory The Apses of Monreale. Young talents from Ca’ Foscari University of Venice were also involved in the project in the design phase and virtual reality experts from the Vitruvio Virtual Reality studio were involved in the implementation phase. The project was illustrated today by the president and secretary of Confartigianato SICILYDaniele La Porta and Andrea di Vincenzo, by Alice Rizzetto and Stefano Micelli, respectively project manager of the project and president of Upskill 4.0 spin-off of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice which offers consultancy and technical assistance services to companies and individuals they deal with innovation and local development.
The eight companies involved in the project participated in the morning. Among those present were the national vice president of Confartigianato, Filippo Ribisi, Maria Concetta Antinoro, general manager of the regional tourism department, Maurizio Carta, municipal councilor for urban planning, Guido Barcellona, general secretary of the Chamber of Commerce and representatives of the regional department to production activities and Unicredit. “Today is the second concrete step of our Visitor center, from words to deeds – underlined Daniele La Porta and Andrea Di Vincenzo, respectively president and secretary of Confartigianato SICILY -. It is an ambitious, far-sighted project, in step with the times. We are able to look with a different vision and describe the artisan workshops in a new relationship between production activities, tourism and cultural context with a language of our times. A path to strengthen once again, but with greater impetus, the artisan value of our businesses. Today we presented the prototype and it was a real thrill to see our guests, the authorities present and our artisans, wearing the headset and virtually immersing themselves in the workshops”. “Facilitating the meeting between the energy and intelligence of young students and Sicilian artisan companies was an exciting challenge – said Stefano Micelli, president of Upskill 4.0 spin-off of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice -. The developed prototype uses digital technologies in an innovative way, creating a space of great emotional refinement. This will represent a first access to the rich cultural heritage of SICILYguarded and renovated with skill by Sicilian artisans”
