Dotdotdot has designed and developed a new visitors' journey and layout for the Museo Naturalistico Minà Palumbo in Castelbuono near Palermo, creating an accessible and immersive experience dedicated to the 19th-century scientist and to the extraordinary biodiversity of the Madonie territory. The new permanent display combines design, storytelling and digital technologies to enhance both tangible collections and intangible heritage. Physical, cognitive and narrative accessibility guide the entire journey: from spatial layout and tactile devices to an intuitive app and multisensory environments that connect museum and landscape.
Accessibility is the project's founding principle. Display cases, panels and illustrations are positioned at heights suitable for visitors with motor disabilities, ensuring direct and non-hierarchical access to the collections.
3D-printed replicas of selected specimens allow tactile exploration, accompanied by braille texts for blind and visually impaired visitors. The exhibition design integrates these tools seamlessly, making inclusion a structural quality rather than an added feature.
A custom app gathers all visitor information and acts as a multimedia guide. Content is triggered automatically as visitors move through the space, reducing cognitive effort and eliminating the need for manual interaction.
For deeper insights, visitors can approach their phone to discreet sensors embedded in the exhibition: additional materials activate without touching the screen. The technology remains invisible, supporting a fluid and intuitive visit.
To ensure a coherent storytelling flow, the museum's extensive materials are organized into thematic sections. Each room opens with a display case featuring an emblematic specimen, offering visitors a clear narrative anchor.
The journey begins with the life and work of Francesco Minà Palumbo - physician, botanist, entomologist and illustrator - whose multidisciplinary approach still resonates today. Subsequent rooms explore biodiversity, entomology, zoology, mineralogy, malacology, paleontology, archaeology and the tradition of manna cultivation.
Two digital dioramas extend the museum beyond its walls.
The first immerses visitors in the landscape of the Parco delle Madonie through 3D environmental scans and spatialized audio that recreate the park’s atmospheres and biodiversity. The installation strengthens the connection between scientific collections and the living territory they originate from.
A second video-diorama focuses on the manna, a rare vegetal product deeply rooted in local culture. Through immersive storytelling, visitors encounter two generations of cultivators: an elder master who “dialogues” with the ash trees and a younger farmer who adopts a more scientific approach.
The installation translates an at-risk intangible heritage into a shared, multisensory narrative.
The visit concludes in a renewed Pinacoteca featuring contemporary artworks inspired by nature and by Minà Palumbo's legacy. This final space creates a dialogue between past and present, reinforcing the museum's role as a living cultural organism.
