Vatican -Microsoft
Digital Experience of St. Peter Basilica
As Creative Director & UX Lead, I directed the design of the Vatican’s AI-powered digital twin of St. Peter’s Basilica—an immersive platform that combines photogrammetry, AI, and storytelling to preserve and share one of the world’s greatest cultural treasures.
I shaped the narrative architecture (“Life of St. Peter,” “History,” “Explore,” “3D Tour”), designed information flows that balance deep scholarship with accessibility, and ensured the platform works seamlessly across web and immersive formats. By aligning Vatican stakeholders, Microsoft AI for Good, and cultural experts, I delivered a human-centered UX that expands global access, supports preservation, and redefines how heritage can be experienced digitally.
I shaped the narrative architecture (“Life of St. Peter,” “History,” “Explore,” “3D Tour”), designed information flows that balance deep scholarship with accessibility, and ensured the platform works seamlessly across web and immersive formats. By aligning Vatican stakeholders, Microsoft AI for Good, and cultural experts, I delivered a human-centered UX that expands global access, supports preservation, and redefines how heritage can be experienced digitally.
The Vatican, home to the Pope and iconic landmarks like St. Peter's Basilica, plays a crucial role in global diplomacy and social advocacy
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Challenges
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• Unified UX: Existing digital resources were fragmented; we needed a seamless, intuitive journey that could connect faith, history, and art without overwhelming users.
• Global Accessibility: The platform had to support multiple languages, devices, and low-bandwidth regions to reach 1.4B+ Catholics worldwide. • Scalability: Designed to handle millions of visitors during the 2025 Jubilee, requiring efficient IA and user flows under heavy traffic. • Stakeholder Alignment: Diverse partners (Vatican, Microsoft, Iconem, Reply) needed a shared vision that honored heritage while meeting business and technical objectives. |
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My role
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• Directed UX strategy from discovery to launch.
• Led workshops and storytelling alignment with Vatican and global partners. • Defined the storytelling framework and information architecture. • Ensured accessibility, multilingual support, and design-to-development fidelity. • Positioned the platform as both a virtual pilgrimage and a preservation tool. |
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Process
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• Discovery & Alignment: Facilitated design thinking workshops, defined the project’s North Star, and developed personas to align diverse stakeholders.
• Storytelling Framework: Structured the experience around St. Peter’s life, the Basilica’s history, and immersive exploration of its levels. • Information Architecture & Design: Created sitemap, wireframes, and UI guidelines to unify narrative content with 3D models, ensuring accessibility and multilingual support. • Prototyping & Validation: Built and tested low- to high-fidelity prototypes, refining navigation and flows through iterative stakeholder reviews. |
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Outcomes & impact
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• Seamless User Journeys: Translated complex narratives of faith, history, and art into a clear, intuitive digital flow, improving comprehension and engagement across diverse audiences.
• Inclusive Global Access: Designed multilingual, mobile-optimized experiences that allowed users worldwide — even in low-bandwidth regions — to meaningfully engage with the Basilica. • Scalable Experience Design: Information architecture and interaction patterns were built to handle millions of Jubilee visitors without compromising usability. • Trust Through Consistency: Established design standards and accessibility guidelines that aligned with Vatican branding, creating a cohesive and credible digital presence. • User-Centered Preservation: Balanced engaging storytelling for the public with AI-driven insights for experts, extending the platform’s value beyond tourism into cultural conservation. |
Research & Discovery
The Discovery phase began by defining a “North Star” vision—an anchor for every creative and technical decision. Through immersive Design Thinking workshops, we aligned Vatican stakeholders, Microsoft, Reply, and Iconem on the purpose of the experience and the story it needed to tell. Together, we explored user journeys, validated the narrative chapters of St. Peter’s life, and mapped how historical milestones and 3D explorations of the Basilica’s levels could flow into a unified digital journey.
Activities included mapping user journeys, drafting the site’s information architecture, and validating content frameworks such as the Life of St. Peter, the history of the Basilica, and multi-level 3D explorations (necropolis, grottoes, basilica, cupola). Stakeholder roles and decision-making processes were clarified early to maintain momentum, while UX principles—usability, accessibility, desirability, and reliability—shaped every discussion.
Impact: Aligned stakeholders across Vatican and partner teams in just two weeks, produced a validated sitemap and narrative framework, and secured development scope approval
information Architecture
The website guides visitors through a layered journey: first The Life of St. Peter (vocation, trials, and martyrdom), then The History of the Basilica from its 4th-century origins to its Renaissance transformation, and finally an Exploration of the Basilica itself—necropolis, grottoes, chapels, porticos, nave, and cupola. Each layer connects artifacts, art, and architecture to Peter’s story, blending history, faith, and space into a unified digital experience.
The information architecture connects St. Peter's life key events, the basilica's history, and the location of key artworks creating a cohesive spiritual narrative and visual journey from the bottom to the top.
Design
Solution
Each race car is build to a specific design specification
Upon completion of the design phase, solution development and deployment started leveraging an Agile approach for developing and delivering the application. Some responses from key stakeholders: "This is awesome! Really good stuff"; "Our race engineers don't talk much but they said they were really impressed"