Professional profile
Virtual Museums | Virtual Heritage | Conservation Scientist | User Experience design | Extended Reality
Eva Pietroni is Research Director at the Institute of Heritage Science of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR) and a cultural heritage conservator specializing in art history.
Her work focuses on experimenting with digital technologies for the documentation, study, enhancement, and communication of cultural heritage (from landscapes to sites, from museums to individual artifacts). She is involved in the conception and development of Virtual Museums, multimedia applications, and virtual reality experiences—both online and integrated into physical exhibition contexts—with the aim of conveying meaning while enhancing accessibility and communicative impact.
Her field of expertise is multidisciplinary, ranging from on-site documentation using integrated surveying techniques, to 3D representation, and virtual reconstruction. These processes are based on a methodological integration of bottom-up approaches (data collected in the field) and top-down approaches (interpretation through documentary and iconographic sources, cultural models, and typological comparisons). Her work also includes real-time model optimization, interactive storytelling, and interaction and interface design. The synergy between creativity and science has consistently characterized her research, as strategies for cultural heritage enhancement and public engagement require the integration of science, art, and technology.
Her research on virtual museums focuses in particular on user experience design, tailored to different contexts of use and target audiences; the development of innovative narrative forms based on media hybridization that combine storytelling and interaction (including virtual reality, mixed and augmented reality, video games, cinema, theater, documentaries, music, and holographic effects); and virtual environments conceived as informational and multisensory ecosystems, for both single and multi-user experiences. Among interaction modalities in virtual environments, she has extensively explored gesture-based interaction. She also has a strong interest in accessibility and in sound and musical cultural heritage. She is the scientific coordinator of numerous national and international research projects at the Digital Heritage Innovation Lab. Among these is the European Horizon project PlaceMUS XR Digital Journey across Places of Music in Europe and Extended Realities (2025–2029), which she coordinates, in synergy with the European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage ecosystem.
Her research on the perceptual and cognitive aspects of cultural transmission is consistently supported by audience studies evaluating user experience with digital applications in museums, including accessibility, attractiveness, usefulness, usability, duration of the experience, comprehension and retention, and educational potential in relation to the context of use.
Since 2000, she has authored over 120 internationally recognized scientific publications, participated in or coordinated more than 80 research projects, and received 10 national and international awards for projects such as "Virtual Museum of the Ancient Via Flaminia", "Etruscanning", "Virtual Museum of the Tiber Valley", "Matera Città Narrata", "Innova Patrimonio", "e-Archeo", and "Codex 4D".
She has also contributed to numerous educational initiatives promoted by Italian and international universities, master’s programs, and research institutes.
She is a musician, holding a diploma in transverse flute; she has worked as a music teacher and concert performer and, since 2016, as a documentary director. She has produced approximately 25 documentaries for RAI 3 and RAI Cultura
CNR Disciplinary Fields and Research Management Sectors
- SH8_4 Museums, exhibitions, conservation and restoration
- SH8_1 Science and Technologies for Cultural Heritage
- PE6_9 Human computer interaction and interface, visualisation
Groups & Labs CNR ISPC
Digital Heritage Innovation Lab →
Manuscripts and Archives Research Group →
Publications
Highlight
Pietroni, E.; (2025). Multisensory Museums, Hybrid Realities, Narration, and Technological Innovation: A Discussion Around New Perspectives in Experience Design and Sense of Authenticity. Heritage 2025, 8, 130. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage8040130
Pietroni, E.; Menconero, S.; Botti, C.; Ghedini, F. (2023). e-Archeo: A Pilot National Project to Valorize Italian Archaeological Parks through Digital and Virtual Reality Technologies. Appl. Syst. Innov. 2023, 6, 38. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/asi6020038
Pietroni, E.; Ferdani, D. Virtual Restoration and Virtual Reconstruction in Cultural Heritage: Terminology, Methodologies, Visual Representation Techniques and Cognitive Models. Information 2021, 12, 167. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/info12040167
