A recognition for the digital enhancement of memory and for cultural and technological responsibility

Milan, October 10, 2025 – Capitale Cultura Group has been awarded the prestigious 2025 Aretè Award, in the Reginae Art&Culture Design category, for its museum project dedicated to the 1908 Messina Earthquake.
The initiative, developed with ARtGlass for the Maria Accascina Regional Museum in Messina, represents a model of innovation in the fields of digital heritage and participatory museology.

A Project That Unites Memory, Innovation, and Responsibility

The award was presented to Antonio Scuderi, founder and CEO of Capitale Cultura Group and ARtGlass, at Bocconi University in Milan, during the CSR and Social Innovation Fair, in the presence of Rector Francesco Billari and numerous representatives from Italy’s academic, cultural, and business sectors.

The Aretè Award, directed by journalist Enzo Argante, has celebrated the best practices in responsible communication in Italy for over twenty years.
Capitale Cultura’s project was recognized as an outstanding example of cultural innovation and responsibility toward collective memory, thanks to its ability to merge scientific rigor, immersive technologies, and civic engagement.

1908 CittàMuseoCittà: Memory Becomes an Immersive Experience

The immersive experience “1908 CittàMuseoCittà,” curated by Orazio Micali, stands as a pioneering laboratory in the international landscape of digital heritage enhancement.

The exhibition combines physical artifacts and digital content, offering visitors a three-dimensional view of Messina before the earthquake through maps, images, and multimedia reconstructions. These are enriched by Augmented Reality routes on smart glasses, which give voice to the artifacts and expand accessibility toward a universal, multisensory model.
At the heart of the experience is an immersive room where visitors can explore a 3D digital twin of the vanished city, created in collaboration with architect Luciano Giannone and based on documentary research conducted by the Museum.

From Memory to Future: New Phases and Civic Participation

In the second phase of the project, coordinated by Capitale Cultura Group, the Museum’s permanent collections (which include masterpieces by Caravaggio and Antonello da Messina) are being reconnected to the historical sites in the city where they were originally located before the earthquake.

Upcoming developments include the creation of an interactive classroom and an open data platform to collect and share memories and testimonies from the public, in a spirit of participatory museology and widespread accessibility.

“The project transforms the reconstruction of material and digital data related to the Messina destroyed in 1908 into a collective and immersive narrative,” says Maria Mercurio, Director of the Accascina Museum. “We return to the community a wealth of knowledge and images that promote cultural memory as a common good.”

Innovation and Digital Citizenship

“Museums are places of citizenship and social innovation,” states Antonio Scuderi, CEO of Capitale Cultura Group and ARtGlass.
“In an era marked by the rise of Generative Artificial Intelligence, projects like this select new datasets of shared knowledge, tell untold stories, and harness the power of digital platforms to create new jobs and skillsets.”