In a period of severe restrictions and social distancing, the use of digital has grown exponential in many sectors, especially in the artistic and cultural one. Digital museums and multimedia exhibitions have portrayed and told the peculiarities of the most famous and well-known works in the world. Digitization does not replace the possibility of having to itself the original work but rather it offers an additional and innovative experience , with the aim of promoting the artistic and cultural heritage in an alternative way and making it even more accessible . The latest site to enter the multimedia world is Castel Del Monte , a famous medieval fortress of the thirteenth century commissioned by Frederick II of Swabia. The castle is located inside the Alta Murgia National Park , between the province of Bari and BAT (Barletta, Andria, Trani). The site has become a digital HoloMuseum that can be visited both on site or remotely through mobile devices such as smartphones or PCs, through the oleographic computer HoloLens 2 from Microsoft. The project saw the collaboration of Hevolus Innovation, Infratel and Microsoft which has made available its advanced technologies of Cloud Computing , Artificial intelligence and Mixed Reality to make the realization possible multimedia site.

?? The project carried out for Castel del Monte is the demonstration of how new technologies – AI, Cloud Computing and Mixed Reality ?? strategic levers are important for the growth and innovation of this sector and in general for the enhancement of our artistic and cultural heritage. In fact, a digital transformation process such as this, on the one hand, generates new opportunities for relaunching the territory, in a complex moment where tourism and the cultural sector are severely tested by the health emergency, on the other hand new digital tools allow people to live extraordinary museum experiences and acquire new knowledge through innovative and engaging ways of using them, bringing them even closer to the culture of our country? declared Silvia Candiani, Director Delegate of Microsoft Italy.

Holograms, interviews and multimedia contents, here is the experience of the digital museum

The union between culture and technology represents an important lever for the promotion and revitalization of the natural and artistic heritage, where the tourism and culture sector are severely tested by the health emergency. When the museums reopen, the octagonal fortress can be visited on site in phygital mode . The mode is activated through a dedicated application called MVRGA (Android and iOS), where the user interacts directly with the 3D avatar of Frederick II of Swabia that will accompany the visitor in the various stages of the museum. Along the way you will encounter audio-visual contents on the history of the castle and real interviews with art critics on the different architectural components of the site.

?? From the point of view of tourism, culture has extraordinary power ?? comments Antonella La Notte, CEO of Hevolus Innovation . ?? So we created HoloMuseum, a concept of a phygital museum, which makes the traditional exhibition context evolve into a hybrid exhibition environment by making the world coexist physical and virtual digital content: thanks to Microsoft Extended Reality XR, Artificial Intelligence and Cloud Computing technologies, visiting a museum or an exhibition can become an amplified, immersive, highly engaging, immediate and interactive experience ??.

All this was possible thanks to a desired collaboration between public institutions, large companies and innovative start-ups such as Hevolus Innovation. In fact, the initiative is part of the project Piazza Wi-Fi Italia , signed between the Ministry of Economic Development, the Puglia Region, the Alta Murgia National Park and Infratel Italia with the aim of create new areas of free Wi-Fi access by installing an internet point near places of cultural interest.

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