“I Macchiaioli” at Palazzo Reale is not just a major art exhibition. It is a narrative experiment that goes beyond the confines of the exhibition hall and extends in time and space, transforming itself into an experience of listening, memory, and in-depth exploration.
For the first time, the story of an exhibition also takes the form of an audio story and podcast, creating a multi-channel storytelling experience that accompanies visitors before, during, and after their visit.
The project, created by 24Ore Podcast, Audiotales, and ArtUP, is supported by a comprehensive multimedia communication plan across Il Sole 24 ORE Group media: radio promos, digital and social media activities, as well as advertising campaigns in the newspaper.
Produced by Palazzo Reale, 24 ORE Cultura – Gruppo 24 ORE and Civita Mostre e Musei, and open to the public from February 3, the exhibition dedicated to the Macchiaioli goes beyond the contemplation of the more than one hundred works on display. Alongside the paintings, a new narrative takes shape, starting from the traditional audio guide and evolving into a true audio-narrative.
An experience that begins in the halls of Palazzo Reale and continues outside in the form of a podcast, accompanying the public on a historical journey without the limitations of space or time.
It is the result of a virtuous collaboration between 24 ORE Cultura, Civita Arte e Musei, Audio Tales, and ArtUP: a project that focuses on the exhibition and then ‘explodes’ its themes into other forms of enjoyment. The exhibition thus becomes editorial, and the visual journey is transformed into an audio story. From painting to voice, from vision to listening.
Audio stories: the exhibition you can listen to
The storytelling project for the I Macchiaioli exhibition was conceived in the rooms of Palazzo Reale and consists of a narrative experience that accompanies and enriches the exhibition, which presents over 100 works to tell visitors about the brief but intense experience of the movement in a period spanning from 1848 to 1872, the date of Giuseppe Mazzini’s death.
Sixteen geolocalized audio stories accompany visitors through the more than one hundred works on display, offering historical and emotional insights into the Macchia movement and the Risorgimento context in which it developed.
The content, curated by Audio Tales and ArtUP, combines historical rigor with podcast-inspired narrative language, transforming listening into an immersive and sensory experience. Thanks to Beacon technology and the ArtUP platform, the audio clips are automatically activated in the rooms, ensuring a smooth, personalized, and interactive experience via smartphone.
The exhibition also inspired the podcast I Macchiaioli – Audio racconto di una mostra(The Macchiaioli – Audio story of an exhibition), an original twelve-episode series produced by 24Ore Podcast. The story follows the artistic and human events of Fattori, Lega, Signorini, and other protagonists of the movement, between art, politics, and everyday life, up to the legacy left to European Impressionism.
A comprehensive, multi-channel narrative project, supported by the Il Sole 24 ORE Group, which integrates exhibition, audio, and podcast into a single cultural experience to be enjoyed before, during, and after the visit.
The innovative heart of the project lies within the exhibition halls themselves. Sixteen geolocalized audio stories accompany visitors along the exhibition route, intertwining the works with the historical, political, and human context that gave rise to the Macchia movement, in a time span from 1848 to 1872.
These are not simple comments on the works, but an immersive narrative experience that redefines the way the exhibition is experienced. The content, curated by Audio Tales, combines historical rigor and narrative power, inspired by the language of podcasts. Emotions, artists’ biographies, social themes, cross-readings of the works: listening becomes a deeper and more sensory key to accessing the painting of the Macchiaioli, capable of complementing and enriching the traditional visit.
Each audio story is automatically activated at the entrance to the corresponding room. Visitors can choose whether to start listening via QR code or use the dedicated app, which allows for a continuous and fluid experience thanks to special tags installed along the route. The technology is made possible by ArtUP, an artificial intelligence-based platform that, thanks to Beacon technology, activates content in proximity to the works, transforming the smartphone into an intelligent and personalized exploration tool.
The podcast: the story beyond the exhibition
The in-depth work developed for the audio narrative in the exhibition has also given rise to the podcast “I Macchiaioli – Audio racconto di una mostra” (The Macchiaioli – Audio narrative of an exhibition), an original series of twelve episodes produced by 24Ore Podcast, the Il Sole 24 ORE Group project dedicated to the production of original podcasts, in collaboration with Radio 24 and 24 ORE Cultura.
Between art, politics, and everyday life, the podcast retraces the stories of the painters who gathered around the Caffè Michelangiolo in Florence, protagonists of a revolution in perception based on light, contrast, and the truth of the “macchia” (smudge). The lives of Fattori, Lega, Signorini, and other artists are intertwined with the battles of the Risorgimento, landscapes painted from life, and everyday peasant life.
Intimate portraits emerge, attention to the dignity of work and women, and a modern view of the details of everyday life. From pergolas to battlefields, the works depict a world observed without filters, until the decline of the group and the legacy left to European painting, which anticipated Impressionism.
Available from February 3 on the website and app of Radio 24 and Il Sole 24 Ore, on 24orepodcast.com and on the main audio platforms, the podcast completes a narrative project designed to be enjoyed before, during, and after visiting the exhibition.
A layered and contemporary narrative that invites listeners to enter the vivid and surprising world of the Macchiaioli, bringing art, technology, and new languages of cultural dissemination into dialogue.
From canvas to voice, from light to narrative: the Macchiaioli return to speak to us as they painted their time. Without rhetoric, without distance. Only the truth of the gaze.
