On a sunny Monday morning in late September, a river of travelers flowed slowly through the Piazza della Rotonda. The focal point of the piazza is the Pantheon, the nearly 2,000- year-old temple to all the Roman gods, and is one of the city’s most popular landmarks.
Fronted by imposing rows of Corinthian columns, it merits the attention it draws. Nearly every visitor slowed down for a photo or selfie, vainly attempting to capture its perfect proportion in pixels.
Antonio Preiti, himself a citizen of Rome, was also using his smartphone in front of the Pantheon. He opened a conversation with a simple question: Is there a quiet, historic place nearby where we can have lunch?
A virtual tour guide named Julia, commissioned by the city of Rome and powered by Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service using GPT-4o, responded that the Piazza Mattei, also known as the Turtle Square, was just 15 minutes away on foot. There we would find another place typical of Rome, with layers that traverse thousands of years. Preiti and two companions set off, following Julia’s directions.
The AI virtual assistant is the brainchild of Preiti and the government of Rome, which is preparing to greet as many as 35 million extra visitors in 2025 for the celebration of the Catholic Jubilee. The name Julia was chosen, Preiti says, “because it is short, fairly common across many languages and it has a deep connection to Rome and its history. Julia is a typically Roman name: Julius Caesar’s daughter was named Giulia, Augustus’s daughter was named Giulia, and one of the oldest families in Rome had the Latin name ‘gens Julia’.”
Working with Microsoft and NTT DATA, a global provider of business and technology services, and Intellera, a consulting company in the Accenture Group, the city hopes that Julia will create a quiet revolution in how visitors experience the city. By equipping travelers with a trusted guide, the city wants to enrich their experiences beyond the typical tourist circuit, all while easing congestion around the most popular sites.
