"The Ecomuseum as Mirror of Contemporary Communities? Multi-cultural Challenges, Inter-cultural Opportunities, Trans-cultural Practices."

The complex and multifaceted transformations fostered by mass communication, industrial production and the accelerated migration of people, objects, cultures and knowledge in the contemporary context question the role of the museum institution, and stimulate the revision of its form, statute and mission toward society. The paper intends to observe the reaction of the ecomuseum to the current social and cultural-scape, and to verify the actual pertinence of its original definition as mirror reflecting the community and its territory. Through an investigation of the peculiar Italian situation, it will be possible to explore the strategic role that this institution can play in responding to the multi-cultural challenges set by contemporaneity, in supporting the sustainable and harmonious development of complex communities through the enhancement of inter-cultural opportunities, and in fostering the processes of cohesion and inclusion by potentiating trans-cultural practices.