Italy expands ways to make art accessible for blind visitors

Italy is introducing tactile models, braille signs, audio guides and adapted tours so people who are blind or have low vision can experience museums and historic sites.

Italy is rolling out new tools and tours meant to help people who are blind or have low vision experience art with senses other than sight. The effort includes tactile replicas, braille signage, audio guides and specially paced tours at landmarks and museums. Officials accelerated accessibility work after 2021 as a condition of receiving European Union pandemic recovery funds. Local projects range from a tactile museum in Ancona to updated visitor information in Florence and new signage at Pompeii. Key developments: - Nighttime tours at Rome sites use small tactile models and guided touch to convey architecture, including a souvenir Colosseum model that helped a blind visitor understand its elliptical shape. - Pompeii has added braille signs, QR-coded audio guides, tactile models and bas-relief replicas to make the archaeological site more accessible. - Florence published a guide describing accessibility options at the Uffizi and other museums, and notes limits at some historic sites such as the Boboli Gardens. - The Omero Tactile Museum in Ancona, founded in the early 1990s, is publicly funded and displays life-size replicas intended to be handled by visitors. - The Radici Association has led tours for people with disabilities in Rome since 2015, adapting experiences by slowing the pace, using touch and adding sign-language interpretation when needed. - The World Tourism Organization is cited in the reporting noting that many older adults have disabilities and that accessible tourism can involve additional companions. Summary: These initiatives aim to broaden how people encounter Italy’s art and heritage by using touch, sound and other senses, and they reflect both cultural and funding priorities set after 2021. Projects are underway at multiple sites, and wider rollout and timelines are undetermined at this time.