“Perugia Upside-Down”: A Multimedia Exhibition in Umbria (Central Italy) for Improving Geoheritage and Geotourism in Urban Areas

Abstract

Multimedia materials represent a promising approach to the promotion of geoheritage. Despite geology being normally associated with natural environments, new tendencies are noted towards better knowledge of the “geological reason” for the selection of a location and the development of urban settlements. The urban environment is, in fact, a perfect laboratory for opening the scientific topics to a broad audience. In this paper, the experience of a geological exhibition organized in the city of Perugia (Umbria, central Italy) is discussed, highlighting the SECRET (SEe and CREaTe) for creating an effective dissemination activity. Panels, interactive tools, laboratories, and trekking tours outside the museum are the main activities, which hosted more than eight thousand visitors in a few months. Moreover, the exhibition was the starting point for ongoing projects on geotourism in the city, with important consequences in terms of visibility and financial return.

Modeling of Vanished Historic Mining Landscape Features as a Part of Digital Cultural Heritage and Possibilities of Its Use in Mining Tourism (Case Study: Gelnica Town, Slovakia)

“…Today, 3D modeling is booming worldwide in all areas of society, including (mining) tourism. It is widely used in the tourism industry, especially while displaying non-existing (demolished) cultural monuments in situ [1][2][3][4][5][6].…”

Rare Occurrence of Mirabilite in the Thirteenth-Century Historic Salt Mine in Bochnia (Poland): Characterisation, Preservation, and Geotourism

“…Therefore, to improve the interpretation of geoheritage, the information should be presented in a more appropriate manner to non-professionals. In recent years, digital technologies have been proven to be very useful in the efficient representation of geological phenomena and for communicating the scientific outcomes to a large number of tourists (Martin 2014;Santos et al 2018;Melelli 2019).…”

Geoheritage and Geotourism Resources

“…We finally want to highlight some papers [22][23][24] that introduce new, original and interesting approaches in the valorization of geoheritage at different levels. These papers deal with the utility of new visualization techniques as well as of devoted mobile applications in the promotion and popularization of geosites.…”