Between anti-museum and interactive museum: the case study of “Paolo Orsi” in Syracuse, Italy

Set up in 1884, for collecting the eastern Sicily's antiquities, the National Archaeological Museum of Syracuse has evolved during the time following the implementation of collections and the transformations of the concept of the museum's role in society. Initially based on a nucleus composed of a few objects and some private collections, it was gradually enriched during a period of almost fifty years of intensive excavation and research undertaken by Paolo Orsi. Benefiting from the rigorous scientific requirements indicated by Luigi Bernabò Brea, the museum started a new life when it moved to Villa Landolina's area where a new structure was conceived by the architect Franco Minissi, a personality already well known in the museography's field. The building and the exhibit design were studied by Minissi to ensure the maximum flexibility. The idea was to create a museum in movement or an anti-museum able to adapt to the scientific progress and new archaeological discoveries. Conceived by its creator as a vital center for research and cultural promotion, the museum, thanks to virtual reality technologies, can today found new capabilities. Starting from a careful "reading" of the building and its environment, made by integrating surveying methods, this case study intends to contribute to the definition of a new approach to the museum visitor experiences through multimedia.