The article presents the wide variety of technologies and their applications in museums, referring to museums of different typologies, including archaeological ones. With their potentialities and constraints, the selected technologies – from Virtual Reality to interactive systems - show a range of uses and approaches that somehow aim to be inclusive. Technological artifices can create new ‘narrative environments’ involving all the publics and ‘non-publics in a more innovative and immersive way, and new communication strategies can include and respond to the various visitors’ needs without the necessity of ‘label’ them. The combination of different communication devices can help transform the experience in museums, and create connections between people and cultural heritage, enhancing them at an emotional level. Since technologies are constantly and quickly evolving, the contribution presented will require continuous updates and further developments.

Background/Objectives: Museum fatigue decreases visitors’ interest due to environmental, social, and personal factors. However, it remains unclear whether physiological parameters can capture museum fatigue, and whether personal factors contribute to psychophysiological changes associated with museum fatigue. Methods: To fill these knowledge gaps, 61 participants visited the ETRU museum in Rome while their position and heart rate (HR) values were continuously recorded. Emotional state was rated after the visit. Time-series analyses assessed trends in viewing time and HR across the full sample and in three clusters defined by personal factors, with correlations examining associations among visit time, HR, and emotional states. Results: Overall, viewing time decreased, while HR increased during the visit. Emotional state correlated positively with visit time, but negatively with HR. The viewing time decrease was consistent across clusters, while HR trends and correlations differed. Conclusions: These findings confirmed that environmental characteristics induce museum fatigue in the visitors and showed that heart rate may be employed as an implicit measure of museum fatigue. In addition, this study revealed that personal factors can modulate the emergence of this phenomenon.