At a time of economic travails in Italy and for its rich artistic heritage, Aliantedizioni
has promoted an investigation and exhibition dedicated to Italian museums.
The encroaching of commercial activities within museums is currently quite widespread and accepted as a necessary aid to the financial health of the individual institutions.
One of the more difficult aspects found over the years is in choosing what products
to offer alongside the books and catalogues, and how they could relate to the exhibited works. Aliantedizioni has therefore sought to set out the conditions for a reflection
on this theme and for an opportunity to investigate, in cooperation with the world
of Design, some possible alternative proposals for those responsible for museums
and their internal sales points. So, a study and show that are meant to be a small homage to Italian art, its history and its precious treasures.

Some intriguing Italian designers have been invited to reflect on what might sell
in Italian "museum stores" and to provide innovative ideas.
Each designer has been matched with one of the most major national museums
so that every project proposed would immediately be relevant.

The list of museums was compiled by following a logic that considered some important factors contemporaneously: the prestige of the collections; an appropriate representation of the various artistic periods; visitor numbers per year; as equal
a spread around the country as possible.

All the designers were asked to present a sample item in the form of an actual-size prototype that would meet a few basic requisites:
- the object would have to be able to carry out a practical function, even if minimally;
- it would have to necessarily demonstrate some form of relationship, even if slight, veiled or ironic, with the associated museum or with some of its specific works;
- the presented project or prototype should be conceived and made in recycled paper
or cardboard, and also consider the energy saving aspect in any eventual mass production;
- the object would have to be of limited volume and weight so as to be easily transportable for the museum's visitors and tourists.