The Underwatermuse Project: a heritage for all

The international project UnderwaterMuse - Immersive Underwater Museum Experience for a wider inclusion (https://www. italy-croatia.eu/web/underwatermuse, https://www.facebook.com/Project-UnderwaterMuse-106106884192806), funded under the Interreg Italy-Croatia 2014-2020 Program (Priority Axis 3 “Environment and Cultural Heritage” - Specific Objective 3.1 “Make natural and cultural heritage a leverage for sustainable and more balanced territorial development”), saw, as Lead partner, ERPAC - Regional Body for Cultural Heritage of the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia and, as partners, the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, the Public Institution for Coordination and Development of Split - Dalmatia County RERA S.D., the Municipality of Kastela (Croatia) and the Puglia Region - Department of Tourism, Economy of Culture and Valorisation of the Territory . The project aimed to enhance and make accessible the huge submerged heritage of the affected areas, otherwise invisible or reserved for a few, through the creation of submerged archaeological parks / paths and the narrative and communicative use of virtual reality. The activities carried out have implemented widespread actions to raise awareness and involve local actors, as well as training diving guides, also for increased accessibility. A public, geo-referenced web portal was created for the virtual exploration of submerged archaeological sites through voice and text information, images and animations. The core of the project, however, was the development of a methodological protocol for the enhancement of the underwater heritage, through pilot interventions aimed at transforming the sites into parks or underwater archaeological trails or making them usable through the narrative and communicative use of virtual and augmented reality and other multimedia tools. The various experiences have produced a breviary of good practices (Auriemma 2023, Toolkit) for shared management models of accessible heritage, which fully complies with the principles and guidelines of the UNESCO Convention on the protection of submerged heritage (2001, L. 157/2009) and above all of the Faro Convention (2005) ratified by Italy on 23 September 2020: heritage as a common good, fundamental for the cultural, social and economic development of individuals and communities. The Toolkit offers the roadmap, declined on the various sites affected by the interventions, for the development of a management and operational framework that involves all the interested parties in a participatory process, through Thematic Tables and Service Conferences; the steps include a Program Agreement, the identification of the Managing Authority and the various roles and tasks, the scientific plan for the enhancement of the site, the shared planning and construction of the park and / or the blue paths, the economic and communication.