Facing covid-19: the digitalization path of Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence

Over the past few decades, digital technologies have become essential for the competitive success of museums and the achievement of their institutional mission. To the best of our knowledge, few studies have analyzed the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on digitalization in the museum sector. In light of this, the present study aims to investigate whether the pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation of museums. It examines the case of Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence through semi-structured interviews and secondary sources. The results show that the museum started its digitalization some time ago, but the pandemic has accelerated it. The institution has been developing several new digital projects using various online and onsite tools.