The Ferragamo Museum unveils a new project dedicated to accessibility and inclusion, reaffirming its commitment to an open, multisensory, and technologically advanced museum experience.

For the first time in a museum setting, an audio guide with descriptions recorded in Dolby Atmos is being used to make the exhibition accessible to people with visual impairments. The Ferragamo Museum is the first in the world to adopt this groundbreaking technology as a tool for inclusion. Dolby Atmos enables a spatial sound experience where voices, instruments, and ambient details move freely around the listener, creating a deeper emotional and perceptual connection—an engaging experience that, in a museum context, opens new narrative possibilities. The implementation benefited from the technical support provided by Dolby.

The project also includes a tactile tour of the “Salvatore Ferragamo 1898-1960” exhibition, featuring faithful reproductions of selected shoes from the Ferragamo Archive, designed to be explored through touch, as well as a tactile map that enables independent navigation of the exhibition spaces.

All exhibition content—including texts, images, videos, and the accessible audio guide—is available on the free Bloomberg Connects app, which hosts exclusive materials from over 500 cultural institutions worldwide, promoting easy and global access to culture. A leading platform in the digital dissemination of culture, Bloomberg Connects allows anyone, anywhere, to experience high-quality museum content.

The introduction of Dolby Atmos in the field of museum accessibility is part of the Ferragamo Museum’s broader commitment to innovation, following the recent launch of its Vimeo channel featuring spatial content.

“Making culture accessible means not only removing physical barriers but also experimenting with new languages and technologies,” says Stefania Ricci, Director of the Ferragamo Museum. “Being the first to use Dolby Atmos for accessibility is a tangible sign of our dedication to this mission.”

The project is now available to all visitors, reinforcing the Ferragamo Museum’s vision of a culture that is inclusive, contemporary, and open to the future.

CREDITS
The project was developed in collaboration with the Italian Union of the Blind and Visually Impaired – Florence Provincial Section, and Libero Accesso Association, which curated the content of the accessible audio guide. Voice talent for the audio descriptions was provided by Leonardo Torrini and Elia Nichols, and 3discover created the tactile materials.

The Dolby Atmos project was conceived and curated by Gianluigi Di Costanzo, who later brought in Bloomberg Philanthropies to position the Ferragamo Museum on the prestigious Bloomberg Connects app.