ANSA ViaggiArt portal and app guides tourists across country

(ANSA) - Bari, May 16 - ANSA Editor-in-Chief Luigi Contu on Monday presented a thematic portal and smartphone app called ViaggiArte at Bari's Cineporto.
    The project - the result of a collaboration between the news agency and the innovative, award-winning tourism start-up Altrama - is designed to show the beauty of Italy's art treasures, including those lesser-known, through itineraries that tell the history of places as well as local news and events in real time.
    The presentation brought together figures from the Puglia culture and art world, including singer Al Bano Carrisi as well as dancers and musicians from the folk orchestra La Notte della Taranta, with leaders from local institutions, including Puglia Governor Michele Emiliano, Puglia Tourism Assessor Loredana Capone, and Bari Mayor Antonio Decaro.
    Altrama CEO Giuseppe Naccarato demonstrated the portal, which will also be available online at the ANSA.it website.
    The smartphone app guides the tourist by using their physical location to suggest nearby itineraries accompanied by the sites' history as well as updated news and cultural information.
    "ANSA is launching an important and innovative challenge in a time that's difficult for publishing, with a product that allows for sharing the beauty of these areas together with the news that the agency handles daily," Contu said.
    "The agency is the third-largest Italian news portal consulted by those who are looking for news online, which is why it's an extraordinary tool that now intends to unite the more classic work of news with the history of the monuments and other tourist services," he said.