Florence museums develop educational content on Dante with ICOM and Microsoft

On the occasion of the 700th anniversary of the death of Dante Alighieri (Florence, 1265 - Ravenna, 1321), the museums of Florence, the MUS.E company, the national committee of ICOM - International Council of Museums and Microsoft Italia are teaming up together to develop specific educational content on the link between Dante and Florence, with the aim of offering teachers and students a qualified and current cultural proposal that is capable of stimulating classes not only to delve into historical, artistic and literary content but also to develop in-depth experiences and interpretations, thanks to the possibilities provided by the digital world. Among the challenges these contents aim to address is to virtually imagine the face of Dante’s Florence, with its architecture, protagonists and stories.

The content is offered on the Flipgrid platform and activates a series of interactive paths that aim to be engaging and to stimulate young users, guided by their teachers, to initiate research, share reflections, and develop digital elaborations. This collaboration is a first: In fact, ICOM Italy is the first Italian partner on Flipgrid, the digital platform that Microsoft has developed with the aim of fostering participatory and innovative social learning among students from guidelines and topics identified by teachers: the MUS.E content represents the first museum proposal. Here then, alongside overseas museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Cleveland Museum of Art, schools have the opportunity to enjoy an all-Florentine digital itinerary, centered on the life of Dante Alighieriand his relations with the city and aimed not only at learning more about the history of the poet and medieval Florence, but also at connecting that knowledge with their own history and contemporaneity.

“With this project,” says City of Florence Councillor for Education Sara Funaro, “past and present are linked in the name of Dante and his relationship with Florence. The seven hundredth anniversary of the Supreme Poet’s death provided the opportunity for MUS.E to develop the content shared on this innovative educational platform through which students, supported by teachers, can deepen their knowledge of the history of medieval Florence, Dante and his main work, the Divine Comedy, whose message is still relevant today, in an interactive and entertaining way. I would like to thank all those who made this fine project possible, which goes to enrich the educational initiatives offered to schools in our city and beyond.”

“The City Council has supported with enormous pleasure this innovative project that brings together technology, literature and schools,” adds Culture Councillor Tommaso Sacchi. “On the occasion of the Dante Year, the Supreme Poet once again proves to be a multifaceted forge of new ideas: even if from a distance, students will be able to get closer to his figure and to the Florence of his time in order to deepen the enormous relevance of his message and teaching.”

“The collaboration started now three years ago between ICOM Italia and Microsoft Italia,” says the president of ICOM Italia, Adele Maresca Compagna, “has led to the realization of several in-depth appointments on the themes of digital transformation in the cultural sphere, always combining a theoretical-conceptual vision with the exploration of practical and innovative tools that can support museum professionals in their daily work and in the pursuit of their mission. In recent months ICOM Italy, thanks to its Working Group ’Heritage Education. Museums-schools-territory and professionalism,’ has activated a widespread listening process throughout Italy on the relationship between museums and schools, leading the process of activating a new and deeper dialogue between the two worlds. Therefore, the experimentation of the Flipgrid platform, certainly useful in supporting a more engaging teacher/learner relationship, fits into this path. Hence the decision to become the platform’s first Italian partner and to involve colleagues and friends of the Civic Museums of Florence in the production of content, particularly in the year of celebration of the 700th anniversary of Dante Alighieri’s death.”

In the photo: Florence, Palazzo Vecchio, the Salone dei Cinquecento

Florence museums develop educational content on Dante with ICOM and Microsoft

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