Territorial handicraft museums, communities and local development: the heart of an Italian project funded by the Ministry of Universities.

The Design System in the Southern Italy territories. Design and Craftsmanship of excellence for the Made in Italy development and the engagement of local knowledge (DeinSIte), is the title of a PRIN project, an acronym for "Progetti di Rilevante Interesse Nazionale", funded in 2023 by the Italian Ministry of University and Research. The project, devised by University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli" and University of Florence, was presented with the support of SYMBOLA Fondazione per le qualità italiane, the MUSEIMPRESA Association, the Donnaregina Foundation for Contemporary Arts | Madre Museum and the PLART Foundation, based on a call for proposals launched in 2022. The PRIN aims to recognise the authoritative role of existing territorial craft museums in guiding and promoting local development in five southern Italian regions (Campania, Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria and Sicily) through the creation of a macro-system of five Regional Museum Systems, both physical and virtual, each equipped with a museum of product excellence. Each museum are to be designed and located in areas of high tourist value, acting as a connector between the existing museums and the participating companies. Campania has emerged as the leading region in this field, having already developed both the project of the Regional Museum System of Design and Applied Arts, and that of the associated Temporary Museum of Enterprise, which was realised with public funds in Pompeii and duly tested in 2022. The macro-system will be managed from a supra-regional Steering Committee composed of Cultural Heritage, Universities, Regions, Local Authorities, trade associations, and professional organisations.