Creativity in Audio Description: Culture-specific references in I leoni di Sicilia

This work explores the role of creativity in Audio Description (AD) as a translation tactic for conveying culture-specific references (CSRs) in the historical drama I leoni di Sicilia ( ). Amidst increased attention on media accessibility, the research highlights how figurative language — particularly metaphor — can enhance the emotional and cognitive reception of visual content for blind and partially sighted audiences. By analysing a corpus of eight AD scripts in Italian (domestic language) and English (non-domestic language), the study evaluates the effectiveness of metaphorisation, explicitation, and addition in the translation of visual CSRs. A selection of case studies using ChatGPTgenerated descriptions in English is compared with official human AD scripts to assess Generative AI’s capacity to identify culturally relevant elements and to make use of creative (metaphorical) language. Results reveal that while Italian ADs emphasise cultural authenticity through detailed explicitation, English ADs tend toward sensory evocativeness and dynamic imagery. The findings support the integration of metaphor as a cognitive tool in AD training and suggest a model combining cultural detail with narrative engagement, where Generative AI supports human describers.