Preliminary results of the Castelmonardo project

The Department of Art, History and Performing Arts of the Sapienza University of Rome in cooperation with the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology (LBI ArchPro) has recently initiated the pilot project “Castelmonardo: From Remote Sensing to 3D Reconstruction. An example of technological research and humanities synergies for the development and communication of the territory” with the goal to explore, document and disseminate the historic-archaeological heritage of Castelmonardo. The project is based on the assumption that the historic-archaeological research applied to a specific territory should be conducted through the use of cost-efficient advanced techniques and integrated to a high quality level of dissemination and communication. The accessibility for the local community to its own historical and archaeological heritage is a fundamental aspect for the development of sustainable strategies for the preservation and valorization of cultural heritage. For that reason, an international cooperation has been established between the above mentioned institutions, with the goal to develop a good practice for the scientific investigation and communication of the historic-archaeological heritage of Castelmonardo. The Italian company OBEN s.r.l., which is specialized in remote-sensing technology, and the Virtutim srls working on communication techniques for cultural heritage have cooperated in the project. The local “Istituzione Comunale Castelmonardo” is also actor in the project, cooperating in logistic aspects and communication. The present paper describes the first step of the project, which has been focused on the high resolution large-scale exploration of the archaeological site through the use of advanced remote-sensing techniques.