AI brings D'Annunzio back to life: hologram of the Vate at Vittoriale will interact with visitors

On May 3, 2025, the Vittoriale degli Italiani will celebrate a symbolic date: the 50th anniversary of the opening to the public of the Priory, the home of Gabriele d’Annunzio, with a day-long event entitled Culture is the brightest of long arms. The initiative, promoted by President Giordano Bruno Guerri, will see the participation of Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli and will be an opportunity to inaugurate new spaces and technologies that project the Vittoriale into the future while remaining faithful to its extraordinary history.

It was May 1975 when, in the presence of Giovanni Spadolini-then the newly established Minister of Culture-the Priory was opened to visitors for the first time. Fifty years later, the Vittoriale presents itself completely restored in every detail, ready to welcome new generations of visitors with a heritage enriched by surprising innovations. A future that takes shape through futuristic projects such as the Gabriele d’Annunzio hologram that... brings the Vate back to life.

It will beat Casa Cama, the last building in the complex, until now not used for museum purposes and inaugurated for the occasion (it will house a didactic room for exhibitions and cultural activities) that the AVaDa (Avatar Digitale d’Annunzio) project will be presented: the Vittoriale has recreated a life-size hologram of the Vate, capable of dialoguing in real time with visitors. It is not, the institute points out, a simple virtual assistant, but a complex artificial intelligence built on a faithful psychological profile and based on a massive amount of historical documents: letters, poems, diaries and testimonies. Psychological models such as the Big Five, Cattell’s 16PF and Runyan’s psychobiographical approach were used to create the avatar, ensuring absolute consistency in the poet’s style, psychology and language.

The hologram was enriched by drawing on twenty-five D’Annunzio works and the documentary holdings of the Vittoriale archives. The result is a simulation that promises to be dynamic and believable: the “new” d’Annunzio will be able to enthuse, humor, be provocative or reflective depending on the questions, always maintaining the original literary register and style. The three-dimensional model, set in a display case at Casa Cama, depicts d’Annunzio in his 50s, dressed in faithfully reproduced 3D clothes, and uses his real voice, obtained through original audio restored using modern artificial intelligence technologies.

This project was carried out by QBT - a subsidiary of RINA Prime Value Services - in collaboration with Dexa and Hypertrue, companies from Brescia that specialize in artificial intelligence and augmented reality, thanks to the support of a Regione Lombardia fund dedicated to innovation.

Alongside the hologram, Casa Cama will also host a space dedicated to Virtual Reality. The new 3D viewers will allow visitors to explore rooms in the Priory, including the Cloister, which until now has been inaccessible during traditional visits. Ultra-high-definition (14K) footage of the rooms of the Vate’s house will be enhanced by period narratives: not only d’Annunzio’s voice, but also those of his cook, Luisa Baccara, and other characters who animated the daily life of the residence.

The virtual experience will also include an immersive journey through the famous Flight over Vienna, an epic feat by d’Annunzio in World War I, now relived thanks to a realistic 8K cinematic VR production. A project that aims to make the visit to the Vittoriale even more immersive, accessible and inclusive. In fact, the new technology will also be usable by people with motor disabilities without the use of controllers, and from September 2025 a LIS interpreter for deaf users will be integrated, in collaboration with the ENS. VR is also proving particularly useful for improving concentration and learning in visitors with learning disorders such as ASD, dyslexia, and ADHD. The VR viewers were developed by Way, a company that specializes in creating cultural content through state-of-the-art immersive technologies.

Prioria’s 50th anniversary celebration will also be enriched by the preview presentation of a new publication, Ho fatto di tutto me la mia casa, published by Silvana Editoriale. The anthology collects literary testimonies and reflections of great authors and personalities, from Ugo Ojetti to Orio Vergani, from Sibilla Aleramo to Emma Grammatica, up to Giovanni Spadolini, Giorgio Manganelli, Alberto Arbasino and Giordano Bruno Guerri himself. The volume, introduced by Guerri and with an afterword by art historian Valentina Raimondo, offers a unique insight into the perception of D’Annunzio’s home through a century of Italian cultural history.

Also making the May 3 day even more special will be the issuance of special philatelic cancellations by the Italian Postal Service, created to celebrate both the centenary of the Nave Puglia, kept in the Vittoriale park, and the 50th anniversary of the Priory’s opening to the public. To encourage participation in the celebration, entrance to the Vittoriale park will be free in the afternoon. This is a way of reaffirming the Vittoriale’s vocation as a place of culture open to all, capable of preserving memory and, at the same time, innovating relentlessly.

“In 1975 Giovanni Spadolini opened the Priory to the public for the first time,” says Giordano Bruno Guerri. “Today we celebrate it with Minister Alessandro Giuli, who was born in that very year, indicating a historical, ideal and factual continuity. Since then the Priory has hosted millions of visitors, and we present it-fully restored, in every fabric, every wood and object-ready to the fullest for the new millions who will come or return. Preserving the past, improving the present and planning for the future: for this mission that the Vittoriale has given itself, we will inaugurate a system of 3D viewers that will allow visitors to explore even the hidden corners of the Priory, and with a life-size hologram of Gabriele d’Annunzio who-with his voice, nourished with his non-artificial knowledge and the most advanced technologies-will answer the thousands of questions of visitors. ’Culture is the brightest of long arms,’ wrote d’Annunzio in the Charter of Carnaro. It is true, we know it.”

AI brings D'Annunzio back to life: hologram of the Vate at Vittoriale will interact with visitors

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