Digital Innovation in Italian Museums:

Abstract

This paper examines the adoption of immersive technologies -- Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) -- in Italian museums, focusing on how digital tools shape visitor experiences across different regional contexts. Building on earlier exploratory work conducted through online surveys and preliminary field research in winter 2024--25, the study draws on survey data collected in September 2025 from visitors across museums located in diverse territorial and institutional settings. The analysis combines descriptive statistics, regression models, and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to investigate the relationships between immersive technologies, visitor satisfaction, emotional engagement, post-visit understanding, and future behavioural intentions. The findings indicate that AR/VR experiences are positively and consistently associated with visitor satisfaction, emotional engagement, and cognitive outcomes across the sampled institutions. Emotional engagement and post-visit understanding emerge as the strongest predictors of positive evaluations and future intentions, while pre-visit expectations and familiarity with immersive technologies play secondary but significant roles. The results also indicate territorial variation in the adoption and perceived quality of immersive technologies, with patterns varying across regional and institutional contexts. Rather than suggesting uniform patterns of digital transformation, the study highlights how immersive experiences are associated with specific regional and institutional conditions that warrant further investigation. By combining experiential and territorial perspectives, the paper contributes to current debates on digital transformation in cultural heritage and smart cultural tourism. The findings suggest that the perceived value of immersive technologies is associated not only with technological availability, but also with the quality of narrative design and the broader contextual conditions of each institution. Future research may extend this work through longitudinal approaches and simulation models exploring the diffusion of AR/VR under different policy and funding scenarios.