This paper presents a digital heritage strategy aimed at documenting, enhancing, and disseminating the religious cultural heritage of the Naples metropolitan area through a web-based geographic platform and immersive virtual tours. The research develops an open and updateable GIS database that maps churches and religious buildings using typological, morphological, historical, and descriptive data, later published as an interactive WebGIS environment. As a detailed case study, the Church of San Giacomo Apostolo Maggiore in Casalnuovo di Napoli was surveyed through integrated reality-based technologies, including terrestrial laser scanning, UAV photogrammetry, and close-range photogrammetry for decorative details. These datasets were merged into complete three-dimensional models and used to generate drawings, documentation, and equirectangular scenes for a browser-based virtual tour built with Marzipano. The tour includes navigable panoramic environments, hotspots, technical drawings, and embedded 3D altar models. The study demonstrates how lightweight digital tools can improve remote and on-site accessibility, strengthen public awareness, and create a scalable model for the valorization of hidden religious heritage.
Virtual Archaeology. Reconstruction of a Hellenistic Furnace at the Duomo Metro Construction Sites in Naples
This paper presents an integrated virtual archaeology workflow for documenting, interpreting, and reconstructing a Hellenistic furnace discovered during the archaeological excavations of the Duomo Station construction site for Naples Metro Line 1. The research combines long-term photogrammetric surveys, laser scanning, UAV acquisition, topographic georeferencing, and stratigraphic analysis to record the continuous evolution of a complex urban excavation located in Piazza Nicola Amore. High-resolution point clouds and textured meshes were used to study multiple archaeological phases and to generate a scientifically grounded three-dimensional reconstruction of a large kiln associated with an extra-urban Hellenistic sanctuary. The model was further optimized and implemented in Unity to create both desktop and immersive VR experiences, allowing users to switch between the surveyed remains and the hypothetical reconstructed state. Interactive visualization also includes digital replicas of artifacts likely produced in the kiln, such as amphora handles, bricks, loom weights, and ceramic supports. The study demonstrates how virtual reality can preserve memory of inaccessible finds, support archaeological reasoning, and improve public dissemination of buried heritage.
AR to Enhance and Raise Awareness of Inaccessible Archaeological Areas
This paper shows a research experience interested in exploring the potential of XR systems for the use and dissemination of knowledge about the architectural Heritage and, in particular, about those areas that are currently inaccessible. Specifically, the methodological approach adopted employs AR as a user friendly tool that, through the involvement of the user in experiences implemented by multi-media content, allows to highlight unexplored aspects of the Heritage.The experimentation carried out involved part of the Insula Episcopalis of Naples, investigating the relationship between the Basilica of Santa Restituta and the archaeological area below. To this end, the instrumental surveys carried out to understand the relationships that exist between the different parts of the Insula, were of support for the construction of the communication project, constituting in fact the reference model on which the tracking of the scene and the anchoring of the different information was based.