WHAT ARE THEY?
A World Heritage Site must be a heritage “of all and for all”.
To ensure increasingly broader accessibility to our heritage, regardless of individual perceptual, motor, or cognitive abilities, we have created tactile maps with audio QR codes to explain the main features of the UNESCO site of Mantua and Sabbioneta and the reasons for its inclusion in the World Heritage List.
Visitors can use them in the Mantua and Sabbioneta Heritage Centre (Giulio Romano's Fish Market in Mantua, Palazzo del Cavalleggero, and Palazzo Giardino in Sabbioneta). Upon request, the Mantua and Sabbioneta World Heritage Office makes them available for educational activities.
This action was carried out as part of the projects “Mantova and Sabbioneta Heritage Centre,” funded by the Ministry of Culture (Law 77/2006) and “Mantova and Sabbioneta for all,” implemented with the contribution of the Lombardy Region.
In collaboration with FabLab Mantova and the TauLab (Universal Accessibility Technologies Laboratory) network project, with the consultancy of the Italian Union of the Blind and Visually Impaired (UICI ETS-APS) – Mantua Section.
THE PROJECT
The tactile maps of Mantua and Sabbioneta were designed and produced using 3D printing, in a single, multicolored body, using eco-friendly material (PLA bioplastic), to highlight the urban and evolutionary characteristics of the two cities.
There map of Mantua highlights the main monuments, the phases of urban expansion and the different altimetric levels in relation to the level of the lakes.
There map of Sabbioneta It focuses on the urban structure, the layout of the road axes and the characteristic star-shaped city walls.
Each map is accompanied by a QR code that links to an online text, designed to guide tactile exploration through recognizable landmarks.
The significant elements are slightly oversized to be more perceptible to the touch, and colored differently to make them easier for the visually impaired to use.
North is marked with a raised element. For ease of reading, the map of Mantua has been rotated slightly westward.
And now… happy exploring!
