iPhone interactive guide for Vatican Museums released

Rome, Italy, Dec 17, 2009 / 01:52 am

An Italian travel guide company has produced an interactive guide for the Vatican Museums for the iPhone and the iPod touch.

The guide, titled “The Vatican Museums 1.0,” features interactive maps, two hours of audio guides and over 170 high quality images, a press release says. It is produced by ItalyGuides and is narrated by American voice actor and writer Greg Negoff.

ItalyGuides said the guide is the result of a collaborative effort between historians, copywriters and art professionals. It is “carefully designed to make learning active, compelling and immediate.”

The guide discusses the origin of the Vatican museums and the contents of the Gregorian Egyptian Museum and the Georgian Etruscan Museum, Raphael’s Rooms, the Sistine Chapel and other famous art locales.

Leonardo Calandra, co-founder of ItalyGuides, said the guide was the result of an online survey of ItalyGuides web site visitors. He explained that The Vatican Museums was “a perfect fit given our audience.”

ItalyGuides’ other audio guides have been downloaded over 250,000 times, he reported.

The Vatican Museums 1.0, which runs on an iPhone or an iPod Touch 3.0 or later, is available for $4.99 at the iTunes App Store in the Travel category. Audio guides are also available for any iPod or mp3 players at the iTunes Music Store and at Amazon.com.