The Church of S. Maria Delle Palate in Tusa (Messina, Italy): Digitization and Diagnostics for a New Model of Enjoyment

Abstract

Cultural places represent the tangible part of the identity and historical heritage of a civilization as well as an extraordinary driving force for the economic development of a country. Within its huge asset, Italy counts a wide number of archaeological sites and monuments which, despite their cultural value, are totally cut off from the most important cultural routes. This paper aims to demonstrate how specific actions of digitization can contribute to valorize (restoring a cultural value) ‘marginal’ landmarks, promoting their knowledge and inclusion. The case study described is represented by the Church of “Santa Maria delle Palate”, located inside the well-known Archaeological Park of Halaesa Arconidea (Tusa, ME). The church, built in 1551 and subject to several renovations throughout the centuries, has been investigated as part of an interdisciplinary training and skill transfer project carried out by a CNR-IPCF research team. During the activities, the group of trainees approached a multi-analytic method for the study of many Sicilian places using different techniques such as laser scanning, photogrammetry, thermography and spectroscopy and collecting a large amount of information and data. In 2019, the building in question was the object of a complete architectural survey in order to obtain an accurate digital replica; moreover, the wall painting representing St. Francis, preserved in the southern nave, was investigated through non-invasive investigations (IR-imaging, XRF and Raman spectrometry) with the intention of collecting information about its state of preservation and nature of pigments used and help the restoration work, which would have been carried out in the following months. The result of the work is a combined “digital archive” useful not only for the purposes of conservation, monitoring and dissemination, but as a container of information enjoyable at different levels of depth. In addition to the scientific outcomes achieved for the study of the painting, relevant from the historical and artistic point of view, we must underline the importance of the work for the implementation of a web-based platform where expert and inexpert users can virtually access the church virtual tour and search for specialized contents (e.g., measures, analyzes results). Media such as this are finally demonstrated to be able to promote the inclusion (e.g., for people unable to reach the place or with reducing mobility) and accessibility to cultural places during ordinary (maintenance, closure) or extraordinary events (pandemic).

Historical Retaining Walls Monitoring: A Case Study of Debosquette Wall of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra

“…The application of these methods has its pros and cons. However, a number of recent studies have shown that any of these methods can be successfully applied to monitor historic buildings [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. In general, geospatial monitoring of engineering structures contains well-known stages, namely design, target setup, geodetic network creation, observations, data processing, and analysis.…”

Restoration and highlight of Agioi Theodoroi church in Nafplio with the use of CAD technologies

“…In recent years, scientific interest, and research towards the systematization of the scientific field of Architectural heritage and digital technologies has been increasing [1,2]. In particular, research concerning religious monuments and churches appear and focus on issues such as the development of appropriate methodologies, protocols and guides for 3D digitization [3,4,5,6], comparison of technologies and tools of digitization [8,9], development of integrated digital data recording and management solutions [10,11], interconnection of geometric, architectural and historical data of the monuments with the aim of a holistic approach to the documentation and understanding of the monuments [12,13,14,15,16], development of accessible applications to end users with the aim of raising awareness of architectural heritage issues [17,18,19,20]. Furthermore, of special interest for this presentation are research projects that focus on capturing, documenting, and highlighting small-scale historical temples with the use of digital technologies.…”