MVM – MUSEO VIRTUALE MATTEOTTI, is a “networked multimedia program for memory and civic education for young people, for schools, for citizens,” proposed by the Fondazione Giacomo Matteotti ETS, a non-profit cultural institution with legal personality established in 1973, created to “honor the memory of the Martyr” for freedom and to promote the civic education of citizens along with knowledge of and respect for democratic institutions among young people. Funded, as part of the Matteottian centenary 1924-2014, by the Mission Structure for National Anniversaries and National and International Sporting Events of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers(https://www.anniversarinazionali.governo.it/it/), the project was the winner of a call for proposals issued under Law July 10, 2023, no. 92, art. 3, paragraph 2, then defined by the decree of the Minister for Sport and Youth January 22, 2024, withAnnex I, which is an integral part of it, registered by the Court of Auditors on February 7, 2024, at No. 353, which established the criteria and procedures for the use of financial resources intended for the selection of projects aimed at promoting and enhancing the knowledge and study of Matteotti’s work and his thought in the national and international arena.

These were the normative reference coordinates that enabled the project to be realized. And now, what does MVM set out to do? What does a museum tell today about a character who belongs to history, and what can a virtual museum tell, and how?

The most recent definition of a museum given by the International Council of Museums in 2022 says that a museum is a place of meeting, exchange, and debate.

“A museum is a nonprofit, permanent institution serving society that researches, collects, preserves, interprets and exhibits tangible and intangible heritage. Open to the public, accessible and inclusive, museums promote diversity and sustainability. They operate and communicate ethically and professionally and with community participation, offering diverse experiences for education, enjoyment, reflection and knowledge sharing.”

MVM wants to have all these features.

The heritage of texts and images it “exhibits” are the result of research, reflection and critical processing, and of an articulated and functioning system of dialogue and collaboration among institutions, organizations, foundations. It is therefore the fruit of the work and project exchange of a community of scholars and professionals – historians, museologists, authors, artists, creatives and technicians – who address an extended community of researchers as well as students, enthusiasts or the curious. A community which is asked to participate, providing contributions (the papers on Matteotti produced by students each year as part of the educational activities promoted in schools), scientific and documentary products (the outcome of the most recent historical-scientific research on the figure of Matteotti) and creative products (the centenary has produced and continues to produce music, documentaries…), information (in reference to Matteotti’s places, the mapping of which is still in progress), reflections and testimonies.

All this will contribute to the life and expansion of MVM, which was created as an open and participatory place and not as a definitive space, as a place of memory and not of celebration.

The experiences that MVM offers are “diversified” because different are the languages it uses-textual, visual, sound, georeferencing-that will find in the physical space of the Matteotti Foundation in Rome an additional exhibit and immersive dimension. Accessible and inclusive, agile to use, multilingual and with visual access functions facilitated through the use of a dedicated font, MVM aims to be a space of knowledge, a working tool, a laboratory. A place for “education, pleasure, reflection and knowledge sharing,” as contemporary sensibilities and audiences demand of the museum institution. For this is what is meant by a museum today: a living space. And the human, intellectual and historical figure of Giacomo Matteotti, whose political testimony and whose civil and moral legacy we find in the founding principles and values on which our Constitution is based, is still very much alive. A Constitution that all of us citizens nurture, every day, with our awareness and participation.

Enjoy your visit!