Territory of Monte Generoso, about 40,000 years ago. Here, the Neanderthal Man and the Cave Bear shared a cave, at what is now the border between Switzerland and Italy. The gigantic plantigrades, mostly herbivores, were among the most common inhabitants of the caves during the last ice age. Twice as large and heavier as today’s Grizzlies, with a mass much greater than even that of polar bears, they represented giants that were difficult to attack by any predator. The small Neanderthal tribes certainly must have feared these huge and dangerous animals, but, probably, they even tried to capture some armed only with courage and sticks with a flint point at the end.
All this – except for new impediments due to the health situation – starting from the last week of June 2021, we will no longer have to try to imagine it, but we will be able to relive it, thanks to an unprecedented Augmented Reality experience and special perfectly transparent multimedia glasses. capable of merging the real world with the 3D reconstructions of the past. A real time machine 4.0.
The natural scenery is also unique: the Generosa Cave (also known as the Bear’s Cave), a famous paleontological site visited every year by hundreds of hikers and still today a very active place of excavation and study by paleontologists of the State University of Milan, in Italian territory but only 30 minutes from the Swiss border on the top of Generoso. Here the remains of primitive plantigrades have been discovered and studied, alongside the evidence of human presence.
“Finally – says Mario Pozzi, mayor of the Municipality of Centro Valle d’Intelvi – after about 3 years of work, the possibility of making this reality known to the foreign and local public becomes concrete; in addition, the use of new technologies adds value to a site that, in itself, is already an important reference on a tourist-cultural level, both for the Italian and Swiss sides. At the end of June, due to the pandemic, the experiences will start to a lesser extent, with the hope that next year we can start at full capacity».
Already at the entrance to the Grotto, wearing the special intelligent multimedia glasses (smartglass) equipped with software that makes them able to recognize what the visitor is looking at and how they move in space, you will find yourself being transported to the bottom of the sea, in the ecosystem that occupied this territory millions of years ago and which today has left us extraordinary fossil deposits.
The journey through history will continue with the entrance to the Grotto, where with glasses it will be necessary to wear a protective helmet. Here, in the middle of the excavations, you can see the cave bears that really lived in the cave come back to life and whose remains are still exposed (a mother with her cubs). You can admire them up close while they eat, play, sleep – thanks to spectacular 3D reconstructions made by university researchers together with the project’s technological partner, ARtGlass (an Italian-American company leader in the field of Augmented Reality for tourism and culture). Finally, after leaving the cave, the visitor will meet a Neanderthal family intent on cooking and eating around a fire.
To create the experience, which will be available in 3 languages (Italian, English and German), an interdisciplinary team was created, which saw paleontologists, geologists, archaeologists, Augmented Reality experts, 3D modelers and videomakers work side by side. In this sense, an important contribution was provided by the Paleontologist Fabio Bona, as well as Conservator of the Civic Museum of Fossils of Besano (VA) and Councilor of the Italian Paleontological Society, and by Professor Lucia Angiolini, President of the Italian Paleontological Society and Coordinator of the College Interdepartmental Didactic of Natural Sciences: «The researches and works carried out within the INTERREG VA project “SCOPRI” made it possible to make the visit to the Generosa Cave a unique experience. While on the one hand the scientific aspects of the site have been deepened and enhanced, on the other the creation of a new lighting system and the application of Augmented Reality technology, through the use of special Epson viewers, allow you to experience a engaging experience between bears and Pleistocene Neanderthals, in the evocative environment of the cave ».
The Grotto can be reached both from the summit of Monte Generoso (Swiss side) and from the Alpe d’Orimento (Italian side). To guide visitors through the natural paths and make them discover the magnificent mountain landscapes, experts from SUPSI (University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Italian Switzerland) have developed an innovative mobile application that all visitors can download on their smartphones. Educational and information panels with QR code to download the app will be available along the way. “SUPSI is particularly proud to have led this project and to be able to demonstrate how new technologies can also be useful in the field of tourism promotion. From an initial idea that seemed difficult to realize, we are now happy to be able to revive the bears on Monte Generoso thanks to a smartphone application capable of providing information experiences based on augmented reality and facilitating the reservation and purchase of tickets required for guided tours in the cave in a digital and sustainable way, without resorting to paper tickets and cash payments ”, these are the words of Giacomo Poretti, Swiss leader, IT engineer and SUPSI researcher.
The experience is part of the Interreg project named with the acronym DISCOVER, whose lead partners are the Municipality of Centro Valle Intelvi for Italy and the SUPSI Information Systems and Networking Institute for Switzerland and which provides as partners are the Comunità Montana Lario Intelvese, the University of Milan, the Mendrisiotto and Lower Ceresio Tourism Organization and Ticino Turismo.
The strategic objective of the project is to introduce an exclusive element of innovation in the tourist offer of the Generoso able to make the visit unique and unforgettable, attracting international attention and enhancing a common geographical area, to encourage the tourist and economic development of the entire region. The project therefore intends to enhance the historical, cultural and naturalistic heritage of the Monte Generoso region through the networking of cross-border tourist itineraries promoted in an integrated way as “The Region to Discover”.
“With the Interreg SCOPRI Project – says the President of the Mountain Community Lario Intelvese, Ferruccio Rigola – our goal is to contribute to the development of the territory by increasing the presence of tourists through the enhancement of all the peculiarities of the Regional Forest of Monte Generoso: the Grotta dell ‘Orso, but also the laburnum forest, the remains of the trenches of the Cadorna Line, offering a new map of the wide path network of this cross-border area and the possibility of being able to finally return to taste our typical products at the main refreshment points on the Italian and Swiss fronts. We want to intrigue the tourist above all with the innovative ability to make the past visible: the visitor of the Grotta dell’Orso, through the special glasses, will be able to experience an augmented reality experience face to face with the extinct Cave Bear, thanks to the experience of ArtGlass, commissioned by the Mountain Authority. The visit of the tourist will be unique and unforgettable ».
With the same technology and always in collaboration with ARtGlass, the Swiss partners of the project had carried out, in 2018, the Augmented Reality visit of the medieval village of Tremona Castello, on the Swiss side, a historic site of great interest, today visited by thousands every year of visitors. Today, the time machine of this extraordinary tourist region is enriched with a new, unforgettable stage.
Nadia Fontana Lupi, Director of the Mendrisiotto and Lower Ceresio Regional Tourism Organization, says: “The OTR has always promoted visits to the Bear’s Cave, which for many years has included among the top 7 themes of attraction for the region . Monte Generoso is a very visited and appreciated tourist destination and its summit, for 130 years, has been easily reached by cogwheel train departing from Capolago. We are particularly happy to be able to propose again the visits inside the Grotta dell’Orso, enriched by the introduction of the experience with 3D glasses, which will allow us to take visitors to take a real leap into the past! This project also allows us to add a further piece to the communication project by enhancing the theme of augmented reality visits that we have been successfully proposing for some years to the Archaeological Park of Tremona, on Monte San Giorgio, and to enhance the theme of the experiential offer “.
News:
June – September 2021 The visits take place only in groups and accompanied by a specialized guide and last 30/40 minutes.
The temperature inside the cave is 10 degrees centigrade.
Groups of up to 12 people can visit the site from 10.00 to 16.30.
For minors there is an obligation to be accompanied by an adult.
For information:
https://progetti.interreg-italiasvizzera.eu/it/b/78/laregionedascoprire
https://www.mendrisiottoturismo.ch/