The pandemic forces us to maintain distance between bodies, but it does not take away the opportunity to experience emotions. We have united the soul of the MArTA with every small and large story, every artifact, every footprint, even with the silence and mystery of those rooms and transformed everything into a digital fluid, which we hope reaches from the heart of the Mediterranean to the world.
The presentation of the 3D virtual tour was already in our plans, but today it becomes the urgent need for a response, for a correspondence between us and the audiences of the Museums.
We have reclaimed the function of this ancient and noble city of Taranto and, tracing back to the relationships it was once able to weave, today we send our message in a bottle for a beauty and a history that must first and foremost be preserved in the memory of these times.
There are no sounds of footsteps, whispers, and the amazement that has always been evoked in visitors by the sparkling showcases of gold and the “heroic” virtuosity of the athlete of Taranto, but in the tour, even if virtual, that value, that history emerges, as a testimony of a glorious past, like those filigree ornaments, the red figures of ancient ceramics, and all the treasures that have arrived here from the sea to the land.
Therefore, the MArTA, which, like all other Italian museums, has been forced to suspend public openings due to the COVID-19 emergency, does not renounce its role, its cultural mission, its being care and hope for the future.
The 3D virtual tour, which has been available on our institutional website for a few days, was already a priority of our commitment to Museum 3.0; COVID-19 has only accelerated the development of this product, which is now an important contribution to the dialogue with the public that must not be interrupted.
Bronze Nutcracker with Gold Leaf, late 4th and early 3rd century BC. 
Female Head in Terracotta, 4th century BC.
From Virtual to Real. The Call to Action to Enlist Ambassadors and Co-Creators
The richness of cultural assets is one of the characteristics that universally describe our country. Now is the time for the community to reclaim the value of cultural heritage, knowing it and considering it a common good to be passed down. Culture creates social and economic well-being. This applies to all museums, but perhaps even more so for the one in Taranto because here we safeguard, preserve, and pass on to future generations a value that can be the keystone of a new development model that this territory in Southern Italy is planning. From these premises, the call to action accompanied by the hashtag #ilmartasonoio was born.
The Museum Between Community and Connections
Culture must return to being for everyone and needs everyone to fulfill its full function as a driver of growth, but also as a tool to co-create content and new perspectives.
Thus, the call to action will continue to draw very personal visions of the MArTA, of its value in the local context, as well as in the national and international context.
Many people have responded to the call to action, but while the involvement of certain sensitivities is almost natural, the participation of some categories of the audience was absolutely unexpected: adolescents and that part of the working class that is generally mistakenly considered less inclined to consume cultural products.
Culture as a Vaccine for Memory
Our virtual tour is an invitation to a journey that reaches the whole world: that community that goes beyond regional borders must know that every euro donated in the crowdfunding platform on our website linked to the virtual tour will finance education and research projects based on sustainable development.
Every single artifact housed in the MArTA is a strong antidote to the crisis we are experiencing, useful for combating distrust, isolation, and for believing again in the future and the power of culture. It is the vaccine that heals memory that will contribute to rebirth all over the world.
The 3D virtual tour of the National Archaeological Museum of Taranto – MArTA can be accessed through the official website www.museotaranto.beniculturali.it and with all devices (smartphones, tablets, or PCs), as well as using the latest optical headsets.
This experience, which places the Museum of Taranto among the most advanced in the world, will lead visitors on an interactive and customizable tour through over 6,000 square meters of the Museum and a journey through more than twenty thousand years of history.
Panathenaic amphora from the tomb of an athlete in Taranto 
Metope from the Naiskos of Via Umbria Taranto, 3rd century BC.
