Interactive routes and immersive narratives: with the MantovaRisorgimento platform, the historic artefacts of the former museum are now accessible online. The project was developed in collaboration with Dotdotdot.
There is a new way of telling the past: no longer only artefacts behind glass and captions, but interactive routes, digital maps and immersive narratives. This is the philosophy behind MantovaRisorgimento, a platform that brings back to the public the heritage of the former Museo del Risorgimento, closed since the 1980s.
The project stems from the collaboration between the studio Dotdotdot, the Municipality of Mantua and the Istituto mantovano di storia contemporanea, with the support of the European PR FESR programme of Regione Lombardia. Initially, the aim was to digitise the historic artefacts and make them accessible online; over time, however, the initiative took a different direction: a virtual museum. A true narrative platform capable of weaving together history, territory and technology.
At the heart of the experience are three thematic routes that guide users through the Risorgimento period. This is not a conventional digital presentation: every document, object or testimony becomes the starting point for a broader narrative. The story moves through the nineteenth-century revolutions, Mantua’s “lungo Quarantotto” and the symbolic construction of key figures from the period, such as Felice Orsini. Texts, animated images and in-depth sections create a dynamic experience designed for different levels of reading.
One of the platform’s most innovative elements is the audio tour with an interactive map, which connects the digital narrative to the urban space. Walking through the city’s squares, monuments and streets, visitors can listen to stories and testimonies linked to specific places. In this way, the city itself becomes an extension of the museum: a narrative landscape where past and present are in constant dialogue.
From an aesthetic point of view too, MantovaRisorgimento strikes a balance between tradition and innovation. Its graphic identity recalls nineteenth-century publishing, while reinterpreting it in a contemporary key through animations, visual references and a modular content structure. Each artefact is linked to a detailed record and historical contextualisation, while the chapter-based system allows for flexible use, adaptable to the user’s time and interests.
More than a digital archive, MantovaRisorgimento takes shape as a cultural observatory. It does not simply preserve historical memory, but offers tools to interpret it and connect it with the territory. The result is a project that shows how digital technologies can transform the way we come into contact with the past: no longer distant and static, but alive, accessible and deeply connected to the places we inhabit.
Cover image: © 2026 Dotdotdot
