The management and valorization of cultural heritage has traditionally been the prerogative of heritage professionals or, more recently, of professionals from the tourism industry. The involvement of communities is generally marginal. As future decision makers, young people are essential to promote inclusiveness in heritage management practices, yet their participation remains marginal due to the underestimation of young people's capabilities and the lack of motivation among young people. Communities of citizens, neighborhood communities, are equally held in low regard due to the same preconceptions. For size reasons, small businesses are also left out.

The project “Oltre le mura-Beyond the Walls” (BtW) (finanziato dall’Unione europea – Next Generation EU, Ministero della Cultura, ItaliaDomani - Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza-PNRR), implemented by Fondazione Orsoline di San Carlo ETS (FOSC), has the following objectives:
– the enhancement through digitalization of the historical-artistic heritage preserved in the convent complex managed by FOSC, to promote its conservation, dissemination and sharing.
– the dissemination of cultural products to a new audience (reducing the territorial gap, reaching vulnerable categories);
– the implementation of activities for the free use of the heritage through digital platforms and new narrative formats;
– the creation of new cultural and creative products for live and online dissemination.

The project BtW aims to break down the physical division between the inside (the cultural heritage held) and the outside (neighborhood, city, world) also by making use of the collaboration of citizens’ associations, small businesses and, above all, involving young people in the design of a narrative path that leads to the discovery of otherwise hidden assets, thanks to the possibilities offered by the most recent digital technologies, from immersion to augmented reality.

The project had, among other things, the objective of creating the cross-media book “Oltre le mura-Beyond the Walls”, created in collaboration between FOSC and Ripensarte, a small company active in the design, development, production and trade of high-tech products and services in the culture and arts sector.

The book tells the story of a block of old Milan and brings to light cultural assets belonging to the FOSC through an “extended, augmented” way of narrating, obtained thanks to an object-based architecture in whose design the students of the Liceo Artistico Orsoline (LAO), sezione Multimedia, and the contributions provided by the inhabitants of the neighborhood and FOSC also took part.

This paper will illustrate the design process that saw the cooperation of these different actors, will illustrate the methods and technologies used, and will give an account of the results obtained.

Keywords: Cultural heritage, heritage management, youth participation, citizen engagement, heritage education, photography for cultural heritage, crossmedia, augmented reality, cultural heritage digitization.