A VR Reality Dissemination Experience Unveiling Historical Transformations of Sant’Agata Chapel in Pisa

In recent years VR has been consistently applied for dissemination purposes for historic architectural heritage and museum experiences. Technological development is increasing the quality, interactivity, and authenticity of VR applications for cultural heritage, maximizing user satisfaction and stakeholders’ interest. Despite realism and fidelity being recognized as relevant features of an effective virtual experience, the characteristics of virtual reality experiences need to be tailored to the specific needs of the cultural experience. Consistent research on heterogeneous case studies is still needed to identify efficient workflows for the realization of heritage sites’ virtual experience. This study describes the experimentation conducted on the case study of Sant’Agata Chapel in Pisa, an octagonal chapel with a pyramidal roof that dates to the XI century. The chapel survived World War II bombings that led to the destruction of the surrounding buildings. For this reason, the chapel, originally enclosed in a cloister, today is located in the centre of a garden, creating a different perception for the observers. Traces of lost frescoes dating back to the thirteenth century emerged during restorations in the second half of the nineteenth century. The workflow includes several stages: historical analysis, digital survey, 3D modelling, and the VR experience design and set-up in Unreal Engine. The development of the virtual experience design is targeted at an effective visualisation of different temporal phases in the disruption of the frescoes and to consent the user to immersively explore the site’s spatiality in relationship with the context transformation before and after the cloister destruction.