Unlike traditional museums, ecomuseums are not located within buildings; they involve open-air settings and are interwoven with the daily lives of local communities.
They are ‘diffuse’ museums that exist within landscapes, workplaces, traditional practices and shared narratives. Rather than being just a collection of objects, they highlight stories, memories and connections, focusing on people and their relationship with their surrounding environment.
Their aim is to identify, connect and document the tangible and intangible elements that define the local area’s identity, creating an organic and coherent representation. Ecomuseum activities aim to uncover the deep relationships between landscape features, creating a system in which each component gains significance through its relation to the others.
Ecomuseums are living, participatory facilities in which culture and nature come together to present an integrated view of the area. They are designed to stimulate reflection, learning and participation in areas such as a sense of belonging, shared heritage, sustainability and collective memory.
Through the active involvement of citizens, institutions, educational institutions and associations, ecomuseums are intended to be a driving force for social and cultural growth, capable of generating awareness, inclusion, and new forms of responsible use of the area.
