New Narratives for Made in Italy

The Made in Italy label has historically been associated with excellence rooted in the virtuous integration of design culture, manufacturing craftsmanship, and aesthetic quality. However, in the current context of digital transition, there is an emerging risk of communicative simplification, which tends to obscure the intangible values underlying this identity—particularly those related to sustainability and innovation. The EMOTIONAL project aims to address this critical issue through a design-oriented approach that integrates disruptive technologies—such as Extended Reality (XR) and DV (DV)—to restore narrative depth and accessibility to these complex contents. This contribution presents two complementary approaches developed within the project: an immersive virtual reality experience, centered on an embodied and affective narrative from the perspective of the crafted object, and an interactive semantic atlas mapping the evolution of key concepts related to circularity and sustainability in the context of Made in Italy. Through a methodological and critical reflection on these two tools, the article highlights how communication design can serve as a strategic mediator between systemic complexity and emotional engagement, helping to make visible—and shareable—the intangible values that lie at the heart of a circular and sustainable Made in Italy identity and its transformative potential.