A DAY WITH THE ARCHDUKES - ILLUSTRATED TACTILE GUIDE TO MIRAMARE CASTLE AND PARK

“Feel the beauty": with this evocative and relevant title, our new project, finally available, was presented at the Miramare Castle, which commissioned the work.

On the occasion of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, next to the inauguration of new tactile information panels placed inside the Park, the Museum wanted to present to the public the first illustrated tactile guide of Miramare dedicated to children.

It was very exciting to be able to show the public present in the beautiful Throne Room our project from inception to completion, which ended with the delivery of copies that are therefore already available to visitors who would like to make use of them.

The official presentation, desired and supported by the Museum's management, was a very important opportunity for us to explain that the guide, consistent with our philosophy and all our other projects, is not a tool strictly addressed to children and young people who need special reading aids, but is designed to be enjoyed by all types of readers. This is because all aspects are considered in parallel and in the same way, giving equal importance to both the visual and tactile sides -a way of proceeding that for us is the only possible way to create materials that can be accessible without being categorized exclusively as such.

As always, this work was the result of multiple skills and professionalism, without which it would not be possible to arrive at a functional, usable, and aesthetically pleasing result: first of all the sponsor Paolo Sadoch, of Sadoch - Rex prodotti cartotecnici, who provided the budget necessary for the realization of the book. Then illustrator Giorgio Delmastro, who purposefully and appealingly sketched Archdukes Charlotte and Maximilian of Habsburg-and let's not forget the little dog Pay!-, without falling into caricature; editor Giulia Natale, who did a very accurate job on the texts created by us, taking into account the limitations imposed by braille writing; and typhlologists Leonardo Manselli and Letizia Grassi who, by providing their knowledge in the field of visual impairment and related functional tools, directed us toward the right solutions and technical devices to adopt. And finally, Alessandro Poloni of Forma Printing, who faced and managed the inevitable difficulties that such a publication involves.

Before that, however, everything was possible thanks to the more than fruitful collaboration with the management and with all the Museum's collaborators, who immediately shared with us a part of their great knowledge with a contagious passion, facilitating our work in no small way. Thanks to them we were able to see Miramare with so many different eyes.

We were very happy to be able to illustrate the creative processes behind the texts, illustrations, format and unfolding of the book, which, we emphasized, is not a fictional story but is about an existing, visitable place that was inhabited by real people and that over time became a place open to everyone. We like to think that from today on, thanks in part to our guide, it is even a little more so.