Modellazione integrata per la gestione del progetto di restauro. Integrated modeling aimed to the restoration project management

The activities pertaining to the research unit of the University of Bologna, within the project entitled “Integrated modeling aimed to the restoration project management” (Program of Relevant National Interest, PRIN 2008), led to the development of an operational methodology meant to be a collector for relevant information and documentation, intended for specialists in the restoration field. The documentation acquiring process, aimed to the production of integrated models (interactive containers intended for general knowledge and details), was defined overcoming the problems that emerged in a number of case studies in which the data collection workflow was optimized dividing it into two distinct and successive phases: a quick, “expeditious” preliminary one followed by a final step, including metric and analytical insights necessary to ensure a broader and more detailed level of knowledge. The tool developed to collect information on Cultural Heritage sites or monumental buildings characterized by paramount historical value, following various stages of investigation, consists of a relevant update for the AIM (Multimedia Information Archives) system, a methodological protocol and a software framework developed during research and applications on several case studies all over the years. Taking advantage of mobile technologies, increasingly powerful and portable due to recent improvements, a hierarchical system to collect information through stations that are optimized for panoramic shooting has been implemented, getting it cloud-connected to a central server that can host content prepared or acquired at different times and according to different, growing levels of detail. The server returns processed material to the stations, making quickly acquired interactive panoramas available to be integrated by other information filling database records with details for more targeted surveys. Sant’Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, one of the selected case studies, is a Basilica originally built in the VIth Century, originally dedicated to St. Martin of Tours. The name “New” was introduced to distinguish it from another town’s oldest church, called St. Apollinaris in Veclo. This Basilica retains the larger Christological mosaic cycle known so far and it falls in the list of monuments declared UNESCO “World Heritage List”. Some photogrammetric and laser scanner surveys were conducted inside the Basilica’s main nave as a final phase followed to a preliminary photoshoot campaign. This initial survey allowed a much more detailed planning meant to document specific portions of mosaics. The resulting AIM was generated collecting all the information gathered during both phases. With further reference to the geographical area of Ravenna, some investigations were carried out at the scale of the object too, with particular attention to the Byzantine mosaics, for which the city is famous worldwide. Even these themes were analyzed following two distinct analytical levels, one preliminary and the other analytical. The acquisition of several mosaic decorations was extended to some studies at the Battistero Neoniano in Ravenna, in which photographic speed survey were followed by further laser scanning tests leading to a specific AIM generation, as documented in this paper.