Museums’ Digital Communication. The role of the Pandemic in accelerating the Digital Revolution in Italian Museums”. In “Intellectual Capital, Smart Technologies and Digitalization. Emerging Issues and Opportunities”. Editors: Chiucchi, Maria Serena, Lombardi, Rosa, Mancini, Daniela

Museums are institutions of memory and repositories of knowledge and should pay close attention to information management in order to create and share new knowledge. As participatory institutions, museums should also work to develop human, structural and relational capital in order to promote Intellectual Capital. They are increasing the interaction with the public. In this context, new technologies support museums in developing service innovation. The pandemic has forced governments in Italy and many other countries to close all nonessential activities, including museums. These institutions have had the only alternative to spread culture and knowledge through online tools, including social media and websites. This caused an acceleration in digital transformation processes. The chapter proposes the results of a survey conducted on a sample of 167 Italian Museums, concerning the digital engagement initiatives adopted during the first lockdown in Italy, future challenges faced and strategies that the institutions will put in place to engage visitors. The pandemic will likely lead to a change in the consumption habits of cultural tourists. They will probably use digital tools and methods of interaction offered by museums more and more also as a way to interact with collections while remaining at home.