Many towns, tourism boards and local businesses in Italy would like a virtual tour, a VR experience or a digital twin of their heritage, but stop at the same question: who pays for it? This guide to immersive tourism funding in Italy explains where the money is now that the PNRR season is over, which kinds of calls actually fund digital and immersive projects, and how to present a proposal that a municipality can say yes to.

The end of the PNRR era (and what comes next)

For five years the National Recovery and Resilience Plan was the main engine of "Tourism 4.0". That engine has now stopped: the 2026 PNRR decree set a single deadline of 30 June 2026 for all projects still in progress. Anyone who missed that train will not find new PNRR calls for tourism.

The good news is that digital tourism has not disappeared from public budgets. It has moved to other channels, which are less visible but often more stable: the regional European funds, the national tourism fund, rural development programs and targeted regional calls.

Where to look for digital tourism grants in Italy

1. Regional ERDF programs (FESR 2021-2027). This is the most important channel until the end of the decade. Each Region manages its own program and publishes calls for tourism digitalization. A good example is Veneto's Smart Tourism Destination call: 2.5 million euros, a 100% non-repayable grant, projects from 100,000 to 540,000 euros, open to destination management organizations (OGD) and explicitly including tools such as augmented reality. The window has closed, but it shows exactly what these programs are looking for: a destination strategy, not a single gadget.

2. Regional calls dedicated to immersive tourism. Some Regions go further and fund immersive experiences directly. Lazio's La.D.I.T. (Lazio Digital Innovation Tourism) offered up to 75,000 euros per municipality, with a total of 1 million. The eligible project types read like a menu of what a VR studio does: AR and VR experiences with 3D reconstructions of villages, castles and monuments, virtual tours of archaeological and historic sites built as digital twins, interactive totems and apps. The call closed in December 2025, but it is a clear signal of where regional policy is heading.

3. The National Tourism Fund (FUNT). The signedMarcato.pdf]Fondo unico nazionale per il turismo is distributed mainly through the Regions, which co-finance initiatives in their territory. The 2026 budget law refinanced it with 37.5 million euros a year for 2026 to 2028. Municipalities do not apply directly, but they can benefit through the regional programs it feeds.

4. "Quality tourist destination" recognition. The same budget law introduced a recognition for municipalities, unions of municipalities and minor islands with fewer than 30,000 residents. It does not bring large sums, but it offers a privileged support channel with ENIT, which can be a strong argument for a small town investing in its digital image.

5. Rural development and LEADER groups. For small inland municipalities, the Local Action Groups (GAL) of the CSR 2023-2027 rural development program often fund the promotion of rural tourism and cultural heritage. Their calls are local and less publicized, so it pays to contact the GAL of your area directly.

6. The Tourism Digital Hub. Italy.it and its Tourism Digital Hub do not fund projects, but the Ministry has opened notices for operators who want to publish their "experiences" on the platform. A well-made virtual tour or immersive experience is exactly the kind of content that gains visibility there.

Calls change quickly: open windows, budgets and eligible applicants must always be checked on the official regional pages before planning. Your Region's tourism portal, such as Veneto's funding page, is the right place to start.

How to pitch an immersive project to a municipality

Knowing where the money is solves half of the problem. The other half is convincing a mayor, a councillor or a tourism officer. Here is what makes the difference.

Start from a goal, not from the technology. Nobody in a town hall wants "a Gaussian splat". They want more visitors outside the summer peak, more time spent in the historic center, a way to show a monument that is closed for restoration. Write the goal first, then explain how the immersive project serves it.

Connect it to plans that already exist. Calls reward coherence. If the destination has a Destination Management Plan, a regional tourism strategy or a cultural heritage plan, show where your project fits. A virtual tour that "plugs into" an existing strategy is much easier to fund than a standalone idea.

Think in reusable content. One capture campaign can produce a web virtual tour, a VR experience for fairs and the tourist office, 360 videos for social media, images for the press and an archive of the heritage. Presenting the project as a content asset rather than a single product multiplies its value in the eyes of the administration.

Plan for maintenance and ownership. This is the weak point of many digital projects. Who hosts the tour after the first year? In which formats are the files delivered? Can the municipality update the content? Use open, standard formats, avoid locking the client into a proprietary platform and state yearly running costs clearly from the start.

Design for accessibility. Public bodies must offer accessible digital services, and European accessibility rules are pushing in the same direction. Subtitles, audio descriptions, keyboard navigation and versions usable on ordinary smartphones are not extras: they are requirements that strengthen an application.

Break the budget into phases. A pilot on one site, then the extension to the whole territory, then the VR and event layer. Phasing lets a municipality start with its own resources and use the pilot as proof when applying for larger funds.

Show, don't tell. A short demo, even a single room or square captured in 3D and viewable on a phone during the meeting, is worth more than twenty slides. Decision makers who have walked inside the result are much more likely to support it.

Measure. Propose simple indicators from the start: tour views, time spent, clicks to booking or visitor information, use at fairs. Funders and councils increasingly ask for results, and a project that measures itself is easier to renew.

A possible project structure

To make this concrete, here is how a typical immersive promotion project for a small town could be organized:

  • Phase 1, the pilot: a 3D capture of the main square or monument, published as a web tour and shown at a public presentation.
  • Phase 2, the territory: a structured virtual tour of the historic center, museums and landscape points, integrated into the municipal and destination websites.
  • Phase 3, the experience: a VR version for the tourist office, fairs and schools, plus video and social content derived from the same captures.
  • Ongoing: hosting, updates and seasonal content, with a clear yearly fee.

The opportunity of the post-PNRR years

The end of the PNRR does not mean the end of digital tourism funding. It means fewer giant calls and more targeted ones, where quality of the project and strategic coherence matter more than speed. For municipalities and tourism operators, it is the right time to stop buying single tools and start building a digital heritage that lasts.

Are you a municipality, a tourism board or a company that wants to promote its territory? Contact us: we can help you design an immersive project ready to be presented to the next call.