I musei diffusi, le aree archeologiche monumentali e gli studenti-visitatori: una nuova comunità educante per la valorizzazione del territorio | Open-air museums, monumental archaeological areas and student-visitors: a new educational community for the enhancement of the territory

Over the past thirty years, research has dealt with the role that museums have assumed over time: from buildings intended for conservation and collection, to learning spaces, places of social and cultural development for the community, with opportunities for 'inclusion. Therefore, the relationship between the museum and learning is central given that the museum has clear educational aspects as it inevitably stimulates cognitive processes.
However, if this is true for museums placed inside a building, it is even more evident for open-air museums and archaeological areas with their monuments, whose visual impact already acts as a resource to sensitize the community to promotional activities, preservation and protection of its cultural heritage.
In this contribution, through a civic education project implemented in a high school of Rome, we want to highlight the link that can be established between schools, museums and monumental archaeological areas in order to raise awareness among students, the future ruling class, not only about knowledge, but also about the safeguarding of cultural heritage and territory. In this way, the link between museums and schools, with student-visitors, can allow the creation of a new “educational community”, because it involves the activation and participation of local communities in the protection and preservation of their territory, strengthening their identity.