Make Italian Culture Alive (MICA) is a project funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research, bringing together five prestigious Italian universities for Expo 2025 Osaka. Running from 6 to 10 May 2025 at the Multimedia Conference Hall of the Italian Pavilion, MICA offers a unique opportunity to explore and enhance Italy’s artistic and cultural heritage through innovative and interactive approaches.
Led by Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, the project is developed in collaboration with the University of Florence, L’Orientale University of Naples, the University of Milan (Statale), Sapienza University of Rome, and with the participation of the CHANGES Foundation.
The initiative was officially launched on Tuesday 6 May from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Italian Pavilion in Osaka, followed over the these days by a rich programme of talks, multimedia exhibitions, and hands-on workshops organised by the participating universities.
Through an immersive experience that integrates artificial intelligence, innovative teaching methods, language education, and various forms of artistic expression, MICA promotes dialogue and cooperation between Italy and Japan. Visitors will be invited to participate in interactive workshops, multimedia installations and presentations of cutting-edge research projects, including RePAIR, CHANGES, and iNEST. The aim is to foster meaningful connections and strengthen the bond between the two cultures, while contributing to the contemporary protection and promotion of cultural heritage.
Ca’ Foscari University of Venice is participating on 6, 8, 9 and 10 May with a delegation of lecturers and researchers, joined by Vice-Rector for International Relations Chiara Saccon, who is also coordinating the MICA project. She will be accompanied by Professor Marcello Pelillo, Professors Monica Calcagno and Marcella Mariotti, and Dr De Luca. Ca’ Foscari will present its research projects RePAIR, CHANGES and iNEST. In addition to the installations, the university will also offer language and cultural heritage workshops to actively engage the public.
The three research projects explore the relationship between cultural heritage, innovation and community. From the memory of Venetian craftsmanship (iNEST), to sustainable tourism practices (CHANGES), to the reconstruction of fragmented archaeological artefacts using advanced technologies (RePAIR), these initiatives rethink how we engage with both tangible and intangible heritage. What links them is a shared focus on preserving identity, enhancing accessibility, and passing on knowledge. Within this framework, an Italian language and culture lab (NoLBrick) will also be presented, closely integrated with the MICA digital exhibition.
Ca’ Foscari University of Venice
- CHANGES Spoke 9 – Cultural Resources for Sustainable Tourism (CREST)
CREST addresses the challenges of integrated management of tourism, cultural heritage and local communities, with a strong focus on sustainability. The project promotes tourism practices that not only protect cultural heritage but also reduce the environmental and social impact of tourism. CREST highlights the importance of active community involvement in decision-making and resource management, recognising that a participatory approach is key to the long-term sustainability of cultural sites and traditions.
Through innovative public-private partnerships, the Spoke develops strategies to create a tourism environment that enhances local identities and contributes to the economic development of host communities. CREST’s multidisciplinary team of academics, researchers and professionals works together to devise and implement solutions that integrate cultural heritage into the economic and social fabric, promoting a vision of responsible and inclusive tourism.
- iNEST Spoke 6 – Tourism, Culture and Creative Industries | SOUVENIR: An Exploration of Craft Memory
Souvenir is an artistic research project developed within iNEST Spoke 6 – Tourism, Culture and Creative Industries, led by Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. The project explores the memory of Venetian craftsmanship through photography, storytelling and academic research. Interviews with retired artisans have inspired researchers and artists to create a new narrative form, transforming personal memories into evocative monologues and visual representations.
The project investigates how traditional craft skills are passed down through generations and reflects on the role of artisanal knowledge in preserving cultural identity. In a city like Venice, increasingly shaped by mass tourism and commodification, Souvenir highlights the value of intangible heritage and the resilience of local culture within a constantly evolving tourism ecosystem.
- The NoLBrick Method
As part of the Make Italian Culture Alive (MICA) initiative, this project offers an inclusive and accessible way to learn Italian. Developed by Professor Marcella Mariotti at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, the NoLBrick method seeks to make foreign languages approachable for learners of all levels. Even complete beginners can engage with Italian through real-life contexts, using interpersonal dialogue and technology to foster meaningful connections.
The workshops held at the Italian Pavilion during Expo 2025 will actively involve participants with the surrounding exhibitions, encouraging critical thinking and helping to strengthen Italian language skills. It will also be an opportunity to introduce CAFOSCARI Jisho, the first free, multi-platform Japanese–Italian dictionary app, developed by Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.
- RePAIR – Reconstructing the Past: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Meet Cultural Heritage
For the first time, cutting-edge technologies will be employed to physically reconstruct archaeological artefacts, which are often found in fragmented and difficult-to-assemble conditions.
The primary goal of the RePAIR project is to develop innovative technologies to virtually eliminate one of the most labour-intensive and frustrating phases of archaeological research: the physical reconstruction of shattered artworks. Around the world, countless vases, amphorae, frescoes, and other ancient artefacts have survived only in fragments, many of which are damaged, eroded, or completely missing.
L’Orientale University of Naples
- OrienTales: Three Centuries of Travel and Books
This video journey traces the origins of Japanese language teaching at L’Orientale University of Naples, beginning with the historical ties between Italy and Japan in the 19th century, as documented in the extensive archives of the university.
Following the signing of the 1866 Treaty, Japanese studies began in Florence and Venice, arriving in Naples in 1903 with the establishment of an official course. This contribution retraces the key moments of this journey, its leading figures, and the teaching materials developed. Among the rarest documents is a box of parchment sheets containing the first European proposal for a Japanese cursive writing manual, attributed to A. Fidora and dated between 1937 and 1941. This work will be presented in digital format for the first time at EXPO Osaka.
University of Florence
- Let's Play Renaissance Together / ルネッサンスで遊ぼう！
In collaboration with the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore and the Museo Leonardiano in Vinci, Let’s Play Renaissance Together / ルネッサンスで遊ぼう！ is coordinated by Susanna Caccia Gherardini of the Department of Architecture (DIDA). It aims to raise awareness of issues related to the conservation and restoration of cultural heritage, with a special focus on the Florentine restoration tradition.
Taking the monumental complex of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore as a case study – a site that has undergone many conservation interventions over the centuries – the project seeks to present the processes behind the care and safeguarding of historical monuments. It also reflects on the cultural and technical continuity of restoration practices in Florence and Italy.
Through interactive and immersive video experiences, alongside hands-on workshops involving model-building activities of the Cathedral’s dome—developed with contributions from various DIDA labs (including LARC, LAA, LXR, and LViDA)—the project makes complex, multidisciplinary knowledge related to cultural heritage conservation accessible.
University of Milan (Statale)
- CHANGES Spoke 2 – Creativity and Intangible Cultural Heritage
The Creativity and Intangible Cultural Heritage project, coordinated by Spoke 2 (UniMI), serves as a hub for promoting contemporary creativity and intangible culture. In an era of profound cultural and technological change, this Spoke connects tradition and innovation by reimagining the value of knowledge, languages, and artistic practices through a new, sustainable, and inclusive design approach.
Its main goals are twofold: on one hand, to develop innovative solutions that can foster new entrepreneurship in the fields of performing arts, music, audiovisual media, design, fashion, and craftsmanship; on the other hand, to preserve and promote linguistic and cultural heritage, encouraging diversity and multilingualism as strategic resources for a more open and resilient society.
A distinctive feature of Spoke 2 is its commitment to integrating sustainable practices into the research, production, and management of cultural activities. Sustainability here is not just a goal but a method—one that reshapes creative professionals’ skills, production logic, and organisational models to support ecological and economic transitions with a real impact on local communities and creative sectors.
Sapienza University of Rome
- CHANGES Spoke 8 – Sustainability and Resilience of Tangible Cultural Heritage
What we define as Cultural Heritage comprises countless fragments that, on their own, often do not allow us to fully appreciate the original object, its story, or its cultural significance. Even the grand structures that once surrounded the Roman Forum and the heart of Ancient Rome can be reconstructed and communicated through reinterpretation.
This project focuses on integrating advanced technologies and scientific methods to enhance the sustainability and resilience of tangible cultural heritage. Its main aim is to develop new infrastructures while thoroughly analysing the impact of human, natural, and climate-related factors on heritage sites. It promotes integrated conservation strategies that consider the cultural, social and economic dimensions of heritage, while also fostering participatory governance models that actively involve both public and private stakeholders, as well as local communities, to ensure inclusive and sustainable management of cultural heritage.
