Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Milan, 5 December 2019 – An app to facilitate the use of the masterpieces preserved in some Milanese museums and three new accessible routes to the Sforzesco Castle museums. These are the innovations presented this morning as part of the ten days of initiatives dedicated to people with disabilities organized by the Municipality of Milan.

By 2020, in fact, it will be possible for people with visual disabilities to visit three new masterpieces of the Sforzesco Castle, Michelangelo's Pietà Rondanini and two other works preserved in the Castle's Pinacoteca. The Descrivedendo method will be used, an approach aimed at creating a bridge between people with visual disabilities and normally sighted people, putting art at the center as an opportunity for inclusive meeting and dialogue.

Among the new tools available to people with visual disabilities there will also be the Musa - Accessible Museum app, created by the National Association of Visually Impaired People ODV together with the IT department of the University of Milan, thanks to funding from Fondazione Comunità Milano . It is a tool based on augmented reality that enhances the sensorial perception of art, for the benefit of an audience of visitors with and without disabilities. In particular, it will allow visually impaired people to personalize the viewing of the works through the zoom and high contrast functions, allowing the visitor to choose the part of the work to be described and visually showing the details while listening.

“A city that makes art accessible to all – declares the councilor for social and housing policies Gabriele Rabaiotti – is a more civilized city, in which culture is not considered an accessory, but an essential part of citizens' lives. The innovations that will be introduced starting next year, thanks to the precious collaboration of third sector associations, contribute to fueling the idea of ​​Milan that we have in mind and want to build. Some steps have been taken, but we are aware that there is still a lot of work to do and we are ready to commit ourselves to an increasingly accessible city and therefore increasingly welcoming and open to all".

Musa will be added to the guided tours with the Descrivedendo method that are already active at the Pinacoteca di Brera, at the Museo del Novecento, at Casa Boschi Di Stefano and at the Cenacolo Vinciano, thus allowing visitors with visual disabilities to enjoy the descriptions independently. Furthermore, since May 2019, on the occasion of the reopening to the public of the Sala delle asse painted by Leonardo da Vinci, the Sforzesco Castle has also promoted a method of use accessible to a public with visual disabilities by adopting the inclusive DescriVedendo method, thanks to the collaboration of the National association of visually impaired people ODV and Rotary club of Milan Castello. On the first and third Thursday of each month, guided tours "Descrivedendo Sala delle asse" are organized, included in the entrance ticket and led by specially trained guides from the Sforzesco Castle.

“In the year of the celebration of the five hundredth anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci – adds the Councilor for Culture Filippo Del Corno -, the exceptional reopening of the Sala delle Asse, the heart of the celebrations, was imagined and designed to allow it to be enjoyed as much as possible as inclusive as possible and aimed at everyone, in order to allow the widest possible audience to enjoy this exceptional event. In this sense, not only was a multimedia created that would make such a complex story as that of the Hall understandable to everyone, but work was also done to ensure that the Hall and the multimedia were also accessible to people with visual difficulties, thanks to an already active project also at the Museo del Novecento and at the Boschi Di Stefano Museum House and which will be further expanded in 2020."

Finally, in June 2019, a tactile tour was inaugurated at the Museum of Ancient Art, designed by the scientific staff of the Sforzesco Castle. On a fortnightly basis, free tactile visits have been scheduled from June to today, conducted by Museum staff with specific training who guide the exploration of some original sculptures exhibited in the museum. Alternatively, visitors with reduced vision can also enjoy the route independently with their companion, thanks to a paper guide available free of charge in the bookshop of the Museum of Ancient Art.