Using Virtual Reality as a Tool to Research, Analyze and Learn: The Competition for Palazzo del Littorio in Rome

Due to the current global situation, the existing model of accessibility to cultural heritage is facing a crisis. Over the last year, security measures to restrain the pandemic led to travel restrictions that greatly decreased the influx to places dedicated to arts and knowledge. However, even though reality seems to slow down under the pressure of those constrains, the need of accessibility to culture and information keeps on encouraging the research for a new usability paradigm, accelerating its transformation through computerized communication. The use of virtual reality could be an alternative tool to learn and interact with historical and artistic heritage, much like the complete digital archives and virtual tours that an increasingly higher number of museums and places of interest are now providing. By developing a virtual reality model of Giuseppe Terragni’s unbuilt project for Palazzo del Littorio (Rome, 1934), it is possible to have an inside perspective of what Via dei Fori Imperiali would have looked like had this architecture been built. This innovative and immersive initiative could make it possible for anyone to experience the spaces recreated by this virtual representation of Terragni's vision, an opportunity that would not be attainable otherwise.