a village for everyone
MARV – removal of physical and cognitive barriers, Gradara

Gradara, once a fortified and inaccessible village, is today a beloved tourist destination, with hundreds of thousands of visitors every year making it — also thanks to the significant flow of school visits — one of the most visited places in Italy (25th, according to the 2021 ministerial ranking).

These numbers subject the village's most important sites, including MARV, to strong pressure in terms of visitor use and reception, with an increasingly urgent need in recent years to upgrade the visitor facilities, making them more accessible and open to every type of visitor.

Following this approach, in 2015 the village joined the "Manifesto of Culture Accessible to All" promoted by the educational department of the Castello di Rivoli (TO). Several targeted actions followed, including the adoption of the SMART software (Software for Museum and Art), making Gradara the first castle in Italy to activate an assisted guided-visit service. What has been missing so far is an organic plan of interventions and, above all, a series of structural upgrades that can no longer be postponed, also considering the increase in visitor flows linked to the appointment of nearby Pesaro as Italian Capital of Culture 2024.

The heart of the actions to be undertaken is MARV as the new access point to the village, with the square at the rear and a direct connection to the outside of the city walls. By centralising essential services here (accessible toilets for people with disabilities; defibrillator; dedicated space for people with severe disabilities; baby-changing station and area dedicated to children aged 0–3; teaching rooms; charging point for electric vehicles and wheelchairs; shop accessible to people with disabilities; air-conditioned and dehumidified spaces), the museum will become a plural reception facility, open to external flows (tourists, visitors) as well as internal ones (community, guides, staff and operators). The city's art collections once again become a fully integrated and fully accessible part of the visit route.