Summary
The paper presents a new software platform, experimented for the first time in the city of Genoa. Visitors can enjoy two virtual reality stations and can install an app on their smartphones, select a specific route and start a tour (three routes are offered in the free version of the app, 15 in the paid version). The visit to real spaces is enriched with multimedia, AR and VR contents available with geolocation tools, in order to offer an immersive experience of the city. The project aims both at managing tourist flows and communicating notions on the history of the city, according to the principles of edutainment.

Innovative VR tools and techniques
• A special 3D tracking solution recognizes details of churches, buildings, monuments or squares and tracks them in real-time, in order to overlap images and let the visitor experience both the present and the past forms of the city

VR in education
• 360° videos and 3D objects are available in six points of interest per route; AR function recognizes some buildings and users can see reconstructions through Cardboard AR, making visible the monuments’ evolution over the course of the centuries
• The free version of the app offers a game titled ‘Ancient Crafts’, set in medieval Genoa
• A medieval Genoa route map and Cardboard VR, available at the Tourist Office, are given with the paid version of the app
• The POIs and the contents are designed to direct the tourist flows and avoid the risk of overcrowding