The “invisible” heritage to the challenge of the valorization: the UnderwaterMuse Project. Transnational Toolkit: Handbook of good practices

The UnderwaterMuse project aims to enhance and promote the underwater heritage of the regions concerned, through the full involve ment of local communities, so that it becomes a strategic resource for the sustainable growth of these territories. It has the ambition to make submerged heri tage and landscapes accessible and to make the invisible, visible: port areas today below sea level, shipwrecks, underwater stratifications produced by continuous landings, settlements and remains of human activity. How? Through two types of action planning: • bringing people to heritage, through the implementation of underwater archae ological parks/underwater museums or blue trails for direct use, diving or snorkeling; • bringing heritage to people, through the narrative and communicative use of vir tual/augmented reality and digital methodologies for remote/online use. This second objective of the project, thanks to the immersive and emotional approach of virtual reality, makes underwater sites accessible to a wider audience, including people with different types of disabilities.