Vate
EN 
IT Discover. Engage. Connect.
Vate is an experimental project to experience and narrate the region together, with the support of research and the community.
Community
Virtual Assistant
Events
Custom Itinerary
Discover. Engage. Connect.
An artificial intelligence at the service of tourism, creating unique, personalized, and unforgettable journeys.
The Project
Tecnologia, cultura e AI per un'esperienza più completa
VATE (Virtual Assistant for Territorial Experience) is an experimental research project, one of the first of its kind, that combines artificial intelligence and culture to transform the tourist experience. Funded by the NODES program (Spoke 3 – Tourism and Culture Industry), VATE was created with the goal of enhancing the vast cultural and landscape heritage, bringing to light even the lesser-known destinations and making every trip more accessible, interactive, and tailored to the desires of the individual visitor.
It is much more than a simple tourism app: it is a tool for research and social innovation, designed to actively engage both citizens and tourists in the shared rediscovery of local, urban, and human heritage.
The project is developed by Gematica Srl, in collaboration with Artwork Soc. Coop., the European University Centre for Cultural Heritage, and the Department of Cultural Heritage of the University of Salento.
Belonging
Designed in the territory, for the territory: Vate gathers the voices, stories, and places of everyday life.
Research and Quality
Every piece of content is the result of a collaborative effort between experts and the local community, with careful attention to the cultural context.
European Innovation
Vate is supported by European funding to experiment with digital tools in the service of local heritage
Community
Anyone can participate: share your places, upload photos, leave your mark. The territory is built together.
How It Works: VATE’s Intelligence
At the heart of the project is an experimental virtual assistant, designed to guide the traveler and enhance local experiences.
The app, still in development, is designed to:
Customize the experience
Gather preferences and interests to suggest experiences that better align with the explorer's expectations.
Suggest new routes
Suggest off-the-beaten-path itineraries, inspired by the user's passions and curiosities.
Narrating the territory
Offer stories, interesting facts, and insights that reveal the unique identity of the places, highlighting the history and culture that bring them to life.
Growing Together
The VATE experience improves day by day thanks to the stories, feedback, and contributions of its users, creating a community that supports one another and shares its own stories.
How It Works: VATE’s Intelligence
The heart of the project is an intelligent virtual assistant, accessible through an intuitive app, designed to become the ideal travel companion. The system is capable of:
Learn and improve
It collects feedback and anonymous data to continuously improve the tourist offerings of the territory.
Profiling the Tourist:
It gathers and analyzes user preferences to understand their true interests.
Telling the story of the territory:
It provides descriptions and insights about the places visited, adapting language and content to the traveler’s style.
Suggesting Tailor-Made Itineraries:
It suggests personalized routes and destinations that go beyond the usual tourist circuits.
Community
Be a tourist in your own city
With VATE, those who experience the territory become much more than just residents: they become explorers, storytellers, ambassadors of their own corner of the world.
Whether you want to highlight a hidden spot, share an ancient tradition, or suggest a little-known route, your experience becomes a direct testimonial for your local area and the hidden gems it holds.
Together, we can bring to light and promote the territory's hidden treasures, sharing their story through the eyes of those who truly know them, and building a living, shared map rich in stories.
Be a tourist in your own city
Every day we walk through streets, squares, shops, and monuments without truly noticing them. Yet every place tells a story, every corner has something to say.
With VATE, citizens also take center stage: explorers of their own neighborhood, storytellers of their community.
Whether you want to report a little-known place, share a local tradition, or suggest a special route, your voice can make a difference.
Help us map, valorize, and tell the story of the territory through the eyes of those who live it every day.
Help us discover your favorite places
Every contribution, big or small, enriches VATE. Whether it's a photo, a story, a tip about a little-known spot, or highlighting a special event, every voice counts. This project grows and is fueled by those who truly experience and love it.
Innovative technology to enhance the territory
VATE is among the first projects in the world to use a virtual intelligence capable of continuously discovering and sharing new attractions, events, and hidden corners. This technology, which learns every day from the territory and the community, helps keep the experience alive and up-to-date for those who want to discover and love these places.
Our goal is to create a close-knit and engaged community.
That's why the best contributions will be recognized or rewarded! Let’s build a shared and authentic story of the territory, together.
About us
Research, technology, and community to highlight the local heritage
We are a group of organizations that share a common vision: to make tourism more accessible, intelligent, and rooted in local territories. The VATE project was born from the convergence of technical, creative, and cultural expertise, united by the goal of innovating the tourist experience through listening and collaboration.
Gematica Srl, the lead partner, provides its technological know-how and ability to develop digital solutions, having designed and developed the App and the artificial intelligence it uses.
Artwork Soc. Coop. brings its expertise in digital storytelling, cultural enhancement, eco-fashion, and responsible tourism.
Together, we collaborate with researchers, tourism operators, and local communities, adopting a participatory approach that puts places and people at the center. The project originated in the Lecce area, with the intention of progressively expanding to the rest of Southern Italy, to experiment with new models of sustainable and inclusive tourism.
We believe that technology should be a tool at the service of people, not a replacement. VATE is designed to grow and improve through the direct contributions of those who love, experience, and share the stories of these territories every day.
Gematica
Lead partner
Artwork Soc Coop
Partner
A cooperative active in cultural tourism and the management of info-points and monuments in Lecce, playing a key role in context analysis and field experimentation.
The Department of Cultural Heritage of the University of Salento
Scientific consultancy
Which contributes to defining cultural models, training the virtual assistant, and verifying content.
The European University Centre for Cultural Heritage (CUEBC)
Scientific consultancy
Which supports the internationalization, replicability, and evaluation of the project's results.
Download VATE now and
start your journey
Download Vate on Android or iOS and get ready to experience a whole new way of traveling, in just a few simple steps!
