The metamorphosis of the Ancient: the Olympic Theatre. 

Reflecting on the principles of Universal Design in relation with the needs of Cultural Heritage, two main issues arise: the first one is the quality of the experience that people have when visiting cultural places; the second regards their capability to interact with the Heritage in terms of autonomous, safe and comfortable accessibility and moreover in terms of aware fruition of the cultural places.

The case study is the Olympic Theatre in Vicenza, the last work by Andrea Palladio.

It is an exemplary case of historic Monument with accessibility issues. The current way of fruition of the theatre is the result of the 20th century interventions, that have introduced some alterations in the entrances and paths system and have compromised the perception of the place regarding its complexity and its relationship with the context.

The historical-critical interpretation about history, materials, construction systems, stratigraphy and the analysis of the current situation allowed the identification of the most critical issues and the points where it is possible to intervene with architectural solutions and technological devices.

In the project proposal, accessibility is considered not only as a mandatory requirement that allow to reach places, but rather as an important condition to promote the knowledge of the Heritage to a wider range of people with different needs and also a requirement for improving the relationship Visitors-Historical Environment.