Thanks to recent archaeological research in Jure Vetere, a monastic site was discovered, founded by the monk Gioacchino da Fiore (XIIth - XIIIth century). The multidisciplinary research, carried out by IBAM-CNR (excavations 2002-2005), put in evidence a remarkably sized ecclesiastical construction. This essay examines how the territory of Jure Vetere was exploited during the medieval era. The processed data by the GIS application, helps us recognize the main areas where the materials came from. The study, carried out on the GIS, is based on two steps of analysis: the first one was the cost surface analysis, used to determine principal exploitation territories nearby the site, the second one was a method which allows to determine the classification of land use, potentially exploitable. In addition the laboratory analysis of different soil samples has allowed us to evaluate the supportive capability of terrains and to make hypothesis about the reconstruction of the plant landscape around the medieval site. Finally, the virtual reconstruction of the ancient environment is based on the GIS procedure, which offer a 3D model of a medieval landscape in the XIIIth century.

Despite the large number of monumental tombs discovered over the years in Taranto, only a few among them are open to the public for in situ visits. Actually, in most cases the visit is precluded because the sites are placed below private buildings or urban roads. However, as often happens, they are affected, for various reasons, by another inevitable trouble: the artefacts preserved inside them until the discover, have been subsequently brought into some museums whereas the monumental structures have been restored, in most cases with provisional works, in order to prevent their collapse. The consequence of this moving, is the de-contextualization of the grave goods and the lack of valorisation of monumental archaeological contexts. An effective solution for these issues could be achieved from the use of technologies that allow a virtual enjoyment of these monuments and the virtual set-up of the grave goods in their original contexts. Based on these premises, thanks to the project CNR-IBAM "Marta Racconta. Storie Virtuali di Tesori Nascosti", co-financed by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Puglia, the National ARchaeological Museum of TAranto (MARTA) will be soon equipped with the installation of a Virtual Platform. This will make 'accessible' ancient monuments from the Greek Taras (the ancient Taranto) currently closed to visitors. In particular, three very interesting monuments have been identified in close cooperation with the Superintendent and with the direction of the Museum of Taranto. The first one is the so-called Tomb of the Festoons, that was found in Via Crispi at the beginning of the last century. At present, it is placed inside a private apartment under the ground floor of a building. The second one, called the Hypogeum of the Gorgons, was discovered some years ago in Via Otranto, but it is now placed below a road pavement. The archaeological and archaeometric studies carried out on these monuments made it possible to develop a wide path of knowledge ranging from funerary rituals to construction techniques.

The birth of virtual reality marked a new path forward and also gave a fresh view of reality, allowing alternative 'readings' of cultural heritage. This new way of representation and simulation was soon associated with the term virtual environment, used to indicate those interactive three-dimensional models that could be navigated and that simulated a place, building, or synthetic representation scheme in real time. A virtual environment is like a "microscope for the mind" that allows you to elaborate amplified projections of the material world, to "look beyond" simple appearances and to make logical connections between elements grouped together. In recent years, virtual environments have been greeted positively by the public and scholars, testified by the quantity of thematic conferences on the subject of Virtual Archaeology. Despite this, there are still many contradictions found in the varying terms and the diverse aims of the developing disciplines that gravitate around the field of virtual reality such as Cultural Virtual Environment, Virtual Restoration, Virtual Archaeology, Enhanced Reality, and Mixed Reality. The spread of new media has upset the traditional systems of communication such as books, television, radio and even the roles of some cultural stakeholder. With this in mind, the role of virtual heritage also consists in transmitting information using the language and cognitive metaphors used in video-games, considering these as cultural paradigms for a form of communication that is freed from the classic rules of elite culture. It is quite frequent to find projects of digital promotion for monuments that are characterised by difficulty of access, or for objects that have been taken from their original context. One solution to enhance the accessibility of those sites is certainly the use of some visual computing technologies which without presuming to be the ultimate answer to the problems posed, try to offer communications tools that permit an effective support to the visit.

The results of this work are in the project related to the virtual visit to the Greek colonies ofHerakleia and Metaponto. It was promoted by the "Soprintendenza ai Beni Archeologici della Basilicata", inorder to offer multimedia products and pathways of knowledge that articulate from the remains visible on theground surface to the digital reconstruction proposals. This work is done in 2006 with the publication of aninteractive CD-ROM to be installed inside the National Museum of Metaponto, but this experience continuestoday, thanks to a continuous review of 3D models recalculated with modern photo-realistic renderingalgorithms.Since 1964 Metaponto has been the subject of intensive archaeological research. The abundance ofrecovered materials documenting the peculiarities of local artisan production, the variety of architecturaldecorations engaged in major public buildings of the sanctuary and agora and the Mediterranean dimensionof trade. There are few equals in quantity and quality of data in the landscape of the Greek colonies ofsouthern Italy. Despite missing the third dimension, as in most of the archaeological sites and visibility on theground is often reduced to a few structural elements such small traces that create complex layouts. Theancient Metaponto virtual visit was based on the above premises and it is developed in relation to themethods concerning the reconstructive archeology, now widely accepted by the scientific community. Themain purpose of the virtual visit is to provide information, not only on what is directly comprehensible by adirect visit of the monuments, but also and especially on those items that are difficult to understand. Eachreconstructive hypothesis is aimed to enhance both the educational value of archaeological items and to,responds to the need to make this understandable to the public. Through a systematic study of past andpresent documents, traced in a transparent and intelligible way, this experience of virtual archeology intendsto give to the public the interpretation results with the high scientific rigor.

With ancient monuments, it often happens thatfollowing their discovery components of them have to be moved,albeit temporarily, to museums in order to carry out restorationwork. In the case of funerary contexts, a consequence of this is thede-contextualization of grave goods and furnishings, making itimpossible to convey the significance of the archaeologicalmonument as a whole. An effective solution to this problem can beachieved by using technology to provide virtual experiences inwhich the grave goods, for example, are virtually restored to theiroriginal contexts.This paper presents the "Marta Racconta. Storie Virtuali diTesori Nascosti" project, co-financed by the Fondazione Cassa diRisparmio di Puglia, undertaken by CNR-IBAM (Lecce, Italy) inorder to install a virtual platform in the National ArchaeologicalMuseum of Taranto (MARTA). The project aims to make'accessible' ancient monuments from the Greek Taras (the ancientTaranto), such as the Twin Tombs Monumental Complex, theTomb of the Festoons, and the Hypogeum of the Gorgons,discovered some years ago in Via Otranto. The first two of the thesemonuments are closed to the public, while the third was filled inand is currently located below a road.From a technological point of view, a real time 3D platform forimmersive stereoscopic visiting was developed, with a navigationsystem using a 'natural interface' and commands executed withsimple hand gestures. Using this technology, visitors will be able tofollow an integrated knowledge itinerary based on heterogeneouscontent including historical and archaeological data and the resultsof archaeometric analyses. This involves spatial navigation within ahyper-realistic environment where it will be possible to interact withthe 3D structures, to query the database and to interact with thegrave goods.

The reconstructive study of Giove Anxur sanctuary in Terracina (Lazio, Italy) is part of a wider valorizationproject to develop a musealization intervention that provides in-site visit, aimed at understanding theexistents archaeological structures and to the creation of digital contents and multimedia solutions useful tostimulate the curiosity and interest of the visitors. The entire project was done in collaboration with theArchaeological Superintendence of Lazio, the Officina Rambaldi and the Syremont spa, in order to make adigital movie that describes the historical and archaeological features of one the most important republicansanctuaries in central Italy. The planimetric reconstruction returns the spatial sense and architecturalcomplexity of the various levels on which articulates the original path of cult.

Analogous to what has happened in the field of restoration, the Seville Principles of Virtual Archaeology have the value of a charter. They do not define a system of norms or laws, but rather the orientation of a broad scientific community that seeks to promote virtual archaeology as a mature discipline, one guided by respect for these rules and founded on scientifically valid and widely shared methods. The full transparency of the methods, techniques and accompanying documentation of a virtual archaeology project, is necessary in order to define standards of quality that raise the scientific value of a discipline which promises to inform, amaze and fascinate with ever greater effectiveness and scientific rigour. The principle N. 7 of the Seville Charter, underlines the need to set up an exhaustive documentary platform, encompassing the entire research process linked to the creation of digital content in virtual archaeology projects. In the Virtual Archaeology the methods of analysis, the surveying techniques and the interpretations must all be clear, comprehensible and reusable. Only analysis of the preliminary data can validate the outcome of a reconstructive study and ensure that the new generations are able to revise the results without necessarily starting from scratch.

This paper discusses a case study on the use of augmented reality (AR) within the context of cultural heritage. We implemented an iOS app for markerless AR that will be exhibited at the MUST museum in Lecce, Italy. The app shows a rich 3D reconstruction of the Roman amphitheater, which is nowadays only partially visible. The use of state-of-the-art algorithms in computer graphics and computer vision allows the viewing and the exploration of the ancient theater in real-time.

This work originated from a simple question: is it possible to reconstruct a destroyed architectural decorative element starting from documents that describe its details, shape and constitutive materials? An important limitation in the past was the lack of technologies and materials that could replicate an object like this in detail. Only a few years ago technology was not yet able to ensure accurate reconstruction characterized by an adequate formal aesthetic level both in terms of materials and finishes. Nowadays, this gap has been filled thanks to the development of Computer Numerical Control machines (CNC) in production processes. In this contribution, we present part of the restoration of Villino Florio in Palermo, built by the architect Ernesto Basile on behalf of the Florio family between 1899 and 1902 and partially destroyed by a fire in 1962: it is one of Italy's first architectural works in the Art Nouveau style,and is considered a masterwork within the European panorama. The restoration, directed by the Soprintendenza BB.CC.AA. di Palermo, also involved the monumental staircase, with a complex wooden floral pattern ("ramage") used to decorate the ceiling. Starting from the relief of the environment and from the old photographic documents, a 3D model of the ramage was retrieved. This formed the basis of information necessary for the subsequent reproduction of the subject with CNC machines on oak modules, assembled and finished just as they appeared in the photographs before the fire. A numerical approach made it possible to control the entire process by adopting structural solutions to avoid overloading the ceiling with excessive weight.

The ignorance or the mis-knowledge of the archaeological background of a modern city can affect its economy and cultural growth, limiting attractivity and spreading erroneous or distorted messages over media. The case of Syracuse (Sicily, Italy) is emblematic. Founded by the Corinthians in 733 BC, birthplace of poets and thinkers as Epicharmus and Archimedes, visited by many prominent figures of Greek culture as Pindar, Aeschylus and Plato, Syracuse over centuries became one of the most beautiful, influential and wealthy among the Greek cities of the Mediterranean basin, as the majestic temples testified. Nonetheless, regardless the historical background and the imposing visible remains of that past emerging everywhere in the actual urban area, Syracuse, since 2005 World Heritage site, has never played the role of quintessential archetype of Greek city both in the scientific literature and the mainstream. Against this scenario a proper action of historical revisionism over all the media should be undertake for restoring the neglected heritage of ancient Syracuse. A starting point is represented by a virtual archaeology project, undertook by a team of scholars of IBAM-CNR and Arcadia University-TCGS, aimed to the overall digital reconstruction of Ortigia, the core district of the Greek Syracuse, and to the production of a 3D documentary entitled `Siracusa 3D reborn', that represents a pivotal advance in the knowledge of the Greek background of the city in terms of communication. This paper aims to present the frame of open issues related to knowledge, local perception, presentation to public and interpretation of the Greek heritage of Syracuse and to explain how the `Siracusa 3D reborn' can give a significant contribution to start up new developmental policies.

In the last few years, mobile or wearable virtual reality has gained new interest amongst the industry and researchers. The rapid development of new technologies such as high quality head mounted displays, accurate and cheap motion sensors (e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, depth cameras, etc.), localization sensors (e.g. GPS, compass, etc.) etc. have led to new opportunities that just a few years ago were not possible to achieve with off-the-shelf components. This renaissance of virtual reality is happening in both research and practical applications, such as computer games, movies, documentaries, learning, urban planning, etc. In this work we propose a system, VirtualTour, offering virtual exploration of Cultural Heritage (CH) sites on mobile devices based on a natural interaction approach; a few easy to understand (and to be tracked) actions performed by the user in the real world are translated into navigation instructions in the virtual world. To achieve this goal, we have exploited embedded sensors and the fast hardware of modern mobile devices.

One of the main activities of MAIER - Italian Archaeological Mission at Hierapolis - has been the development of a research line aimed at the virtual restoration and the three-dimensional restitution of ancient buildings in the roman city of Hierapolis of Phrygia, in Turkey. The project, named "Virtual Hierapolis," has gradually articulated in the last three seasons of excavation (years 2007-2009) and developed from early experiences of Virtual Reality conducted on the same site during previous years. The research, coordinated by the Director of the italian mission, prof. F. D'Andria, and conducted within the Information Technologies Lab (ITLab) of the IBAM-CNR in Lecce, involves heterogeneous research units engaged in field work, restoration and interpretation of data.