Readings
Readings are the many perspectives and viewpoints that – on the theme of accessibility – intersect at every moment of the cultural experience: from the welcome in cultural venues, to the experience lived within them, up to the participation or the creation of new models of interaction.
This section gathers theoretical reflections on these topics as well as testimonies and practices from museums, archives, and libraries, useful for composing a cross-sectional and multidisciplinary vision of accessibility. Accompanied by a counterpoint of news, updates, insights, and stories.
But the tags help to filter according to your interests... so, happy reading!
The art of welcoming
A new, on-demand, distance learning course is available, offered by “Personeper. Accessibilità nei luoghi della cultura”, a national training plan designed to improve the accessibility of spaces, contents, and services in cultural venues. In five hours, open to everyone, the course “The art of welcoming” proposes hospitality as a pillar of the very mission of museums, archives, and libraries, exploring all its potential, including concepts, strategies, and tools.
From publishing to museums: natively accessible content for cultural sites
The article analyzes accessibility as a right and as systemic responsibility, in light of the UN Convention and the European Accessibility Act. The accessible publishing model promoted by Fondazione LIA demonstrates the effectiveness of a coordinated ecosystem, proposed as a reference also for museums.
Accessibility practices for temporary exhibitions
The article describes the actions of the Museo dell'Ara Pacis towards an increasingly accessible, inclusive, and participatory exhibition design. Through progressive experiments, initially aimed at specific audiences and then extended to all, accessibility becomes a structural part of the cultural project. Multisensory devices, multiple languages, and collaborations with organizations and communities transform the visiting experience. The exhibitions thus configure themselves as spaces of relationship, choice, and active interpretation. Accessibility emerges as a lever for innovation and rethinking the museum as a public service.
Museum accessibility: a duty, not an option
The article proposes accessibility as a dynamic and universal process, implying everyone and not single categories of audience. The museum is understood as an institution serving society, called to engage with communities and build shared narratives. Through concrete experiences gained in various museums of Sicily, multisensory approaches, multiple languages, and accessible tools integrated into daily practice are explored. The experiments described show how inclusion can transform places, roles, and relationships. The museum thus emerges as a living space of participation, responsibility, and civic cohesion.
Accessibility in museums: an investment that creates the future
The text reflects on the numerous impacts related to considering accessibility as a strategic principle to redefine the public role of museums. Accessibility policies build proximity, capable of creating trusting relationships and fostering new forms of participation. In this sense, the opening to the sensory-perceptual dimension in the visit paths enriches the museum narrative, welcoming new audiences; as well as the use of technologies as enablers of meaning. All these accessible interventions produce measurable returns, also in terms of economic sustainability: a mature managerial reading of the phenomenon shows how these interventions generate value in the medium-long term. Accessibility also produces effects on the level of social sustainability, expanding cultural citizenship, reducing inequalities, and generating relational well-being. Accessibility is therefore a fundamental lever for the future of museums and, above all, an investment that produces the future.
Co-designing culture: ethics and complexity for a more accessible museum
The author, Miriam Mandosi, reflects on the meaning and construction of co-design processes for cultural accessibility in the museums. She conveys the ethical implications and outlines the various phases, from ideation to the ongoing maintenance of the action.
Cultural participation? It is (still) a privilege
The text analyzes the social and cultural barriers that in Italy limit access to cultural life, considered a citizenship right and a form of community relationship. Beyond physical, economic, or territorial obstacles, symbolic and ritual signals especially weigh, making culture perceived as an elitist space, excluding those who do not master its codes. The dominant cultural imagery, not very representative of the diversity present in the country, marginalizes stories and memories of underrepresented groups, particularly people with migratory backgrounds. The text presents examples of intercultural and community practices that reduce these barriers by making museums and libraries shared and participatory places. For these changes to become structural, long-term policies based on participatory governance, linguistic plurality, and redistribution of cultural power are needed. The final challenge is to redefine the 'we' of Italian culture, recognizing diversity as a resource and condition for a broader cultural democracy.
Cristina Musinelli
General Secretary of the LIA ETS Foundation since 2014, a not-for-profit organization, created by the Italian Publishers Association (AIE) in collaboration with the Italian Union of the Blind and Visually Impaired (UICI), which promotes the culture of accessibility in the publishing field, recognized as a case of excellence also at an international level. Since 1988 she has been a consultant for digital publishing at AIE, where she manages European and international projects, oversees the professional training program, and collaborates with the Research Office in its research activities. She is a member of the Board of Meet, the first International Center for Digital Art and Culture, and of EDRLab (European Digital Reading Lab), co-chair of the W3C Digital Publishing Business Group, member of the Steering Committee of the European Inclusive Forum of the Daisy Consortium and of the Accessibility Steering Committee of the ABC Consortium of WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization), and expert of the ISO OT UNI/CT 014/SC 04 "Automation and documentation" section.
Fondazione LIA
Fondazione LIA ETS is a not-for-profit organization, created by the Italian Publishers Association (AIE) in collaboration with the Italian Union of the Blind and Partially Sighted (UICI). It promotes the culture of accessibility to allow all people with visual disabilities or reading difficulties of printed editorial products to choose how, when, and what to read, favoring their social integration and active participation in the world of culture, school, and work. To achieve this goal, the Foundation supports publishers, companies, and national and international institutions in the creation of accessible editorial products and services through consultancy and training activities, service offerings, and research and development projects.
Dario Scarpati
Dario Scarpati, archaeologist, graduated from the University of Rome “La Sapienza”. He worked as a disability operator at CRI (Croce Rossa Italiana) and other Rehabilitation Centers. Since the 1990s he has been involved in accessible museology. He coordinated the Thematic Commission “Museum Accessibility” of ICOM-Italy from its establishment in 2007 until 2017. From 1998 to 2008 he directed the Civic Museum of Poggio Mirteto (RI) where he conducted experiments on accessibility and promoted two study days involving professionals from the social, cultural, and medical fields. He participated in projects and workshops on the subject in Italy and abroad (particularly in Rome, Mantua, Palermo, Guimaraes, Ljubljana, Maribor, Antakya, Timisoara, etc.). He was a speaker at conferences dedicated to accessibility (Rome, Matera, Palermo, Leicester, Liverpool, Erfurt, Brussels, etc.). He is the author of several articles and publications on the topic of accessible museology.
Francesca Romana Chiocci
Francesca Romana Chiocci holds a PhD in History and Conservation of Art and Architecture Objects. After graduating in Humanities, with a focus on art history, from the University of Roma Tre, she was a research fellow at the Catholic University of Milan and the Musée du Louvre. Since 2018, she has worked at the Management and Organization Office of the Ara Pacis Museum. After completing training at the Tactile Museum Omero in Ancona and the Paideia Foundation in Turin, she is currently involved, among other things, in museum education and accessibility.
Miriam Mandosi
Art historian, consultant and cultural designer specialized in museum accessibility and cultural welfare. Collaborates with museums, public and private entities, and cultural organizations to develop cultural paths and projects and training programs.
Gino Roncaglia
Gino Roncaglia is Associate Professor at University Roma Tre. He authored a number of scholarly books and articles both in the field of History of Logic and in the field of Digital Humanities. He is scientific consultant for the cultural and educational division of the Italian State TV Broadcaster RAI, and has been scientific consultant and author of a number of TV programs on new media from 1996 onwards.