Fondazione Brescia Musei, in collaboration with Way Experience and Beside, presents the new immersive storytelling project dedicated to the enhancement of the Collections of the Museo del Risorgimento Leonessa d’Italia, reopened in 2023 after eight years of closure thanks to the fundamental support of Regione Lombardia and Fondazione Cariplo, within the framework of the Bando Emblematici Maggiori 2020. The project, titled Risorgimento VR Experience, was the winner of the InnovaCultura Call for Proposals, funded by the Lombardy Region’s PR FESR Regional Program 2021-2027. The initiative aims to support cultural institutions and venues, promoting innovation and growth in the cultural and creative sector.
Risorgimento VR Experience includes four virtual reality experiences available inside the museum, designed especially for a young audience. The project continues the renewal undertaken by the museum, which aims to make the rediscovery of history an active tool for preserving collective memory, enhancing cultural heritage, understanding the present and developing critical thinking. A distinctive element is inclusive accessibility: thanks to special content management software, the experiences can be enjoyed by all, thanks to the presence of content in LIS (Italian Sign Language).
The visitor will be involved in a journey through time to discover the Risorgimento and its protagonists. The stories of the men and women who contributed to the Unification of Italy - such as Filippo Ugoni (Fratelli ribelli), Tito Speri (Un giorno da eroe), Felicita Bevilacqua (L’immenso ospedale) and Giuseppe Nodari (La spedizione dei Mille) - are told through an immersive narration rich in historical details and evocative anecdotes. The tale is guided by an original character created by Elisabetta Dami, author and creator of Geronimo Stilton, already the protagonist of the museum app-game for children created by Fondazione Brescia Musei. For this project, the writer created Lioness Lea, an anthropomorphic fictional character who wears jeans and a Risorgimento jacket. A symbol of Brescia, “Lioness of Italy,” Lea accompanies the public to convey the authentic and still relevant values of the Risorgimento.
VR experiences also make it possible to admire archival materials and artifacts not normally accessible to the public, visible in the videos and integrated into the narrative. The project fits fully into the philosophy of the new Museum of the Risorgimento, which is based on three pillars: historical artifacts, material evidence of the period; works of art, which shaped the Risorgimento imagery; and the digital collection, which makes the museum experience more immersive and participatory.
Thanks to the expertise of Way S.r.l. and Beside, which handled the storytelling and development of the virtual world, and the expertise of the Educational Services of Fondazione Brescia Musei, which elaborated the historical and artistic content, the museum now has a new fruition technology capable of expanding the audience and attracting new forms of cultural and proximity tourism. The project is designed to involve adult audiences, schools and visitors from Italy and abroad. To complete the project, an unpublished comic book was also produced, illustrated by Silvia Bigolin and edited in content by Fondazione Brescia Musei. Distributed to teachers and available to the public, it takes up the narrative and visual style of the digital experience, deepening the stories of the four protagonists.
Risorgimento VR Experience is part of Fondazione Brescia Musei’ broader commitment to the enhancement of Brescia Castle, the Museo del Risorgimento Leonessa d’Italia and its collections. Throughout 2025, this commitment has taken the form of a rich schedule of initiatives dedicated to the narration of the Risorgimento from multiple perspectives and languages.
“With its reopening in 2023, the Risorgimento Museum Lioness of Italy has established itself as an example of historical storytelling from a contemporary perspective. Thanks to a renovated museological layout, it is now an educational and participatory space where storytelling stimulates critical reflection and strengthens civic consciousness. Fondazione Brescia Musei has always been committed to the enhancement of this symbolic place, the heart of Brescia Castle and a witness to the city and national identity,” said Stefano Karadjov, Director of Fondazione Brescia Musei. “With the ’Risorgimento VR Experience’ project, winner of the Lombardy Region’s InnovaCultura call for proposals, we wanted to bring forward a vision of the museum as an accessible, dynamic and innovative space. Immersive virtual reality experiences - designed especially for the new generations - represent a powerful tool to bring the public closer to history, making it engaging, exciting and inclusive. We are convinced that culture should be an engine of social and civic growth. In this perspective, the Risorgimento Museum is not only a place of memory, but a laboratory of citizenship, where historical heritage is transformed into a living and shared experience.”
“La Leonessa racconta was born from a simple but very powerful idea: to allow visitors not only to listen to history, but to experience it. The work we have done transforms the museum visit into an immersive and participatory experience, in which the public no longer just observes history, but goes through it, feels it, and lives it firsthand,” explain Francesca Biagioli, Founder of Beside Books, and Marco Pizzoni, Founder of Way Experience
“I am happy to participate in this beautiful project, which combines innovation and profound values, breathing new life into the story and bringing it closer to the public. With the lioness Lea, I wanted to contribute to making the Brescia Risorgimento Museum a living place, where history dialogues with the present and visitors feel like protagonists of their own path of discovery. Because culture, when it speaks to the heart, becomes an adventure that never ends,” commented Elisabetta Dami.
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| Brescia Musei Foundation, the Risorgimento told through Virtual Reality |
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