An ecomuseum is a museum dedicated to the identity of a territory.
It is a new form of museum which is the expression of a geographically well-defined place, in which its environmental and naturalistic resources are valorised and protected together with the cultural heritage of the community that inhabits it.
The aforementioned cultural heritage includes the historical-artistic heritage, habits, customs and traditions of the local population.
The establishment of an ecomuseum has the aim of analysing, preserving and disseminating the historical memory of a community and its relationship with the environmental heritage of the territory, guaranteeing its transmission to subsequent generations.
The ecomuseum therefore belongs to its inhabitants who actively participate in its promotion through associations and local bodies.
The ecomuseum body promotes cultural and environmental tourism initiatives with the aim of making visitors aware of both the territory and its history, as well as working for their protection.
There are many differences between an ecomuseum and a traditional museum:
- An ecomuseum is not a static system, but it evolves over time following the transformations of the territory and the evolution of its inhabitants;
- An ecomuseum is not strictly confined by four walls in a physical place, but is a widespread museum form that generally develops in the open air;
- An ecomuseum does not display exhibitions and collections, but exhibits all the environmental peculiarities of the place and its connection with the history of its inhabitants;
- An ecomuseum is unique and cannot be replicated anywhere else.
The birth of the concept of ecomuseum took place in the 1970s in France and is due to George Henry Rivière and Hugues De Varine who were the first to try to give it a definition.
Rivière, for example, sees the ecomuseum as "a mirror in which this population looks at itself" and which it "offers to its guests to make themselves better understood".
Since that moment, there have been many other definitions of ecomuseum but it has never been possible to give a univocal and definitive one as the very concept of ecomuseum is constantly evolving.