Learning from museums: heritage and cultural tourism, Cagliari as a case study

The city of Cagliari (Italy), that is facing an increasing tourism and it is proposing itself as a candidate for European Capital of Culture in 2019, can find in both factors an important chance to define its identity on the base of a renewed cultural heritage awareness. The museum network of Cagliari, conceived in the 19th and early 20th century, can be reconsidered to communicate more effectively its cultural value and to drag the cultural tourism compartment. This essay tackles some topics stemming from the observation of some recent actions of several museums, which are significant of a virtuous relation between culture and tourism in contemporary times, when a balancing between cultural needs and logic of globalized tourist market is fundamental to grant heritage preservation and sustainable development. The city cultural heritage and its museum network are presented as a case study, in trying to define in its historical quarters a contemporary “city/museum” shaped on the city. Its collection is the city itself, its mission is preserving and sharing its historical and contemporary heritage