Interattività e museologia critica: un nuovo modello per il Museo Pitrè

Abstract

The essay explores the contemporary challenges faced by the Sicilian Ethnographic Museum, inaugurated in 1910 and entrusted with preserving Sicilian folk traditions. The Museum, born from the vision of the renowned Palermo-based folklorist Giuseppe Pitrè, serves as a vast cultural archive with its collection of objects, customs, and traditions of the island, now threatened by rapid socio-economic changes. Following a brief overview of the difficulties encountered by its founder in realizing the project, the authors reflect on the contemporary challenges that demo-ethno-anthropological museums must confront to adapt to an evolving society. The potential of multimedia tools is analyzed, not only as a means of attracting a younger audience but also as a way to transform the museum into a laboratory of collective identity, capable of blending tradition and modernity through greater audience engagement and participation.