La componente culturale del prodotto turistico integrato: la creazione di valore per il territorio attraverso i musei locali

Il presente lavoro, al fine di ridurre le esternalit\ue0 negative dovute alla concentrazione del turismo nei tradizionali circuiti delle grandi citt\ue0 d\u2019arte e massimamente in alcune stagioni, prende in esame le possibilit\ue0 di distribuzione dei flussi per l\u2019intero arco dell\u2019anno nelle aree periferiche caratterizzate da un patrimonio culturale capillarmente diffuso, ma di scarso rilievo monumentale. Muovendo dall\u2019analisi della domanda turistica esistente e potenziale, ci si propone di verificare se l\u2019offerta culturale attuale intercetti e soddisfi adeguatamente una domanda di conoscenza sempre pi\uf9 vasta e composita, individuando i limiti delle strategie di valorizzazione dello stock di capitale culturale fino ad oggi perseguite rispetto alle opportunit\ue0 insite nella specificit\ue0 del patrimonio culturale italiano. In particolare, partendo dai nuovi concetti di cultura e di bene culturale e focalizzando l\u2019attenzione sul valore strategico dei luoghi, si analizzer\ue0 il ruolo decisivo che pu\uf2 essere assunto dai musei locali sia per la produzione che per l\u2019organizzazione dell\u2019offerta culturale e turistica territoriale

Strategie di branding del cultural heritage nella prospettiva esperienziale

Il presente contributo si occupa della definizione di possibili strategie di valorizzazione del patrimonio culturale di interesse locale \u2013 musealizzato e non \u2013, concentrandosi sulla progettazione di nuovi concept di prodotto nella prospettiva del marketing esperienziale, e sulla conseguente individuazione delle modalit\ue0 di comunicazione pi\uf9 idonee alla tipologia di prodotto offerto. Nello specifico, si focalizza l\u2019attenzione sull\u2019organizzazione tematica dell\u2019offerta culturale, museale e diffusa, con particolare riferimento alle differenze tra musei e parchi tematici. Dopo aver tracciato le linee guida per la definizione di tematismi culturali che non banalizzino n\ue9 corrodano la molteplice gamma del valore di un territorio, si cerca di mostrarne l\u2019efficacia nei processi di naming, oltre che nella definizione di politiche di prodotto rispondenti ad una domanda di turismo culturale experience-based. Il paradigma qui proposto, fondato sulla corrispondenza stock-prodotto-comunicazione, godrebbe di notevoli vantaggi competitivi in termini di distintivit\ue0, comprensibilit\ue0 ed esperienzialit\ue0, incontrando altres\uec il bisogno di autenticit\ue0 espresso dai nuovi pubblici. Nell\u2019ottica del marketing esperienziale particolare attenzione viene infine riservata alla funzione del museo-piazza come experience provider

DICO Toolkit for Digital Career Stories

Digital Career Stories – Opening new career paths for arts and culture students, or DICO for short, has been a 2-year-long pedagogical development project. Its main objective was to develop innovative narrative and arts- and design-based methods that together form the Digital Career Story methodology introduced in this toolkit. Through the methodology developed, the project aimed to encourage reflection and self-reflection skills in higher education students, along with their digital and creative skills, and to help them build professional identities and design career paths, as well as enhancing their resilience, self-efficacy and self-esteem. The specific target group of the project was students of arts and culture subjects, but the pedagogical methods can just as well be used with other higher education students. The DICO project was the joint effort of a consortium of five European universities: Turku University of Applied Sciences (TUAS), Finland (as the applicant and coordinator of the project), University of Macerata (UniMC), Italy, Staffordshire University (SU), United Kingdom, Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (MOME), Hungary, and the Technical University of Dublin (TU Dublin), Ireland. The project was funded by the Erasmus+ programme and lasted from March 2021 to February 2023. The DICO Toolkit contains the project results in the form of a handbook intended for lecturers, counsellors and mentors in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), and for cultural and creative organisations and professionals. It aims to provide both theoretical frameworks and practical tools for developing art-based methodologies with HEI students in the arts and culture. The book is structured into three sections – Theories and methodologies, Implementing creative methods, and Project evaluation and further resources – and concludes with an Appendix

Museum networks and sustainable tourism management. The case study of Marche Region's museums (Italy)

Over the past twenty years, research on cultural tourism has sought to find a balance between tourism development and cultural heritage conservation. However scholars have not focused on the enhancement of local cultural heritage as an asset to raise awareness of new cultural destinations and to prevent overcrowding in just a few cultural cities. After a discussion of literature on heritage tourism management, this paper presents the results of a survey on museum networks in the Marche Region of Italy. Research suggests that museum networks have an important role in promoting local cultural heritage, but that they are not yet able to exploit economies of scale, to then ensure the museums\u2019 survival and development as well as their contribution to sustainable tourism

Corporate museums as heritage vehicles: a comparative analysis between family and non-family businesses

The heritage marketing strategy often calls for the employment of a corporate museum to represent the firm’s history in the eyes of internal and external observers. However, to date there has been no attempt to identify the distinctive values underlying the use of corporate museums by family firms – as opposed to non-family firms – for nurturing customers’ understanding and appreciation of the company and its products. This paper aims to address this gap and investigate the identity values that drive the establishment of corporate museums by family firms and non-family firms. Using a comparative case-study (CCS) approach, the paper examines the values underlying two examples of corporate museums promoted by two different firms, one with a high level and one with a low level of family control. The study reveals differing distinctive values between family and non-family corporate museums

Enhancing intangible cultural heritage for sustainable tourism development in rural areas: the case of the “Marche food and wine memories” project (Italy)

In the context of increasing interest in the contribution made by culture to the implementation of the goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the present research investigates how intangible cultural heritage (ICH) can help sustainable tourism in rural areas. Adopting a case study methodology, we analyzed the “Marche Food and Wine Memories” project, an initiative promoted by CiùCiù, a winery based in Offida, a small village in the Marche region (Italy). After discussing the strategies and tools adopted to enhance rural heritage, the analysis focuses on the involvement of local communities and businesses in the different phases of the process. The research aimed to understand: (1) the project’s current contribution to the economic, social, cultural and environmental dimensions of sustainability; and (2) its strengths and weaknesses and possible future improvements. The research findings confirm the high potentialities of ICH-based initiatives for sustainable tourism development in rural areas, but also reveal the need to improve the level of networking with local businesses and highlight gaps in marketing and management skills. Finally, the results provide policy and managerial implications for similar ICH-based initiatives

Identification of a novel zinc metalloprotease through a global analysis of clostridium difficile extracellular proteins

Clostridium difficile is a major cause of infectious diarrhea worldwide. Although the cell surface proteins are recognized to be important in clostridial pathogenesis, biological functions of only a few are known. Also, apart from the toxins, proteins exported by C. difficile into the extracellular milieu have been poorly studied. In order to identify novel extracellular factors of C. difficile, we analyzed bacterial culture supernatants prepared from clinical isolates, 630 and R20291, using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The majority of the proteins identified were non-canonical extracellular proteins. These could be largely classified into proteins associated to the cell wall (including CWPs and extracellular hydrolases), transporters and flagellar proteins. Seven unknown hypothetical proteins were also identified. One of these proteins, CD630_28300, shared sequence similarity with the anthrax lethal factor, a known zinc metallopeptidase. We demonstrated that CD630_28300 (named Zmp1) binds zinc and is able to cleave fibronectin and fibrinogen in vitro in a zinc-dependent manner. Using site-directed mutagenesis, we identified residues important in zinc binding and enzymatic activity. Furthermore, we demonstrated that Zmp1 destabilizes the fibronectin network produced by human fibroblasts. Thus, by analyzing the exoproteome of C. difficile, we identified a novel extracellular metalloprotease that may be important in key steps of clostridial pathogenesis