ROME — Italy’s Ministry of Culture launched a sweeping new campaign on February 24, positioning the country’s museums not as monuments to the past but as living spaces for joy, movement and shared experience.
The initiative, titled “Felicità”, centres on the Musei Italiani app and marks the first time official information on hundreds of Italian museums and archaeological parks has been gathered into a single digital platform. The app, developed as part of Italy’s post-pandemic national recovery programme, already covers more than 400 state museums and archaeological parks, with plans to expand to nearly 4,900 sites nationwide, including private institutions. Visitors can access real-time opening hours, accessibility filters, current exhibitions, suggested itineraries, and ticket booking in one place.
At the heart of the campaign is a film directed by Luca Finotti, a fashion filmmaker known for work with Gucci and Versace, with art direction by Paola Manfrin. Shot across nearly 40 cultural sites with 20 directors of photography and 25 international graphic studios, the production presents Italian heritage as a shared experience shaped by movement, emotion and participation.
Four hundred sites
The locations span the full breadth of the national museum system: the Reggia di Caserta, the Gallerie degli Uffizi in Florence, the Museo Egizio in Turin, the Parco Archeologico del Colosseo in Rome and the Valle dei Templi in Agrigento, among others.
The cast draws from music, sport, dance, cinema and social media. Singer Achille Lauro appears at Castel Sant’Angelo; Paralympic champion Ambra Sabatini, Italy’s flag bearer at the Paris 2024 Games, at the Uffizi; dancer Alessandra Tripoli at the Valle dei Templi; and American actor Nyle DiMarco at the Grotte di Catullo in Sirmione. Actress Alba Rohrwacher contributes a digital cameo as Paolina Bonaparte at the Galleria Borghese. A group of cancer survivors known as the “Donne in Rosa” also feature, linking cultural spaces to themes of healing and resilience.
The soundtrack is built around Raffaella Carrà’s “Felicità, tà, tà”, a 1974 pop classic that has become one of the defining anthems of Italian popular culture.
The campaign rollout spans institutional channels, television, digital platforms and outdoor advertising in Italy and abroad.
“With the Musei Italiani app, visitors can access reliable information and plan their cultural journeys more easily, wherever they are,” the ministry said.
