Small towns and digital survey: virtualizing Castelvecchio Calvisio, Abruzzo, Italy

Abstract

Castelvecchio Calvisio is one of the thousands of small towns in Italy, it has its specific aspects, its high-quality buildings, it is the product of a rich and complex history passing through centuries and leaving traces in the architectures, in their masonry and the various artefacts. The articulated situation of the small towns in Italy is subject to many different approaches, it can be well and shortly resumed in the words by Antonio De Rossi: In recent years, Italy has often been represented as a nation with an urban structure closely linked to the size of major cities. but Italy is littered with margin territories: from the complex system of alpine valleys and mountains to the varied territories of the Apennine ridge, and gradually descending the peninsula until it encounters all those areas that classical southernism had indicated as "the bone" to be contrasted with the "pulp" until it reached the areas of the two large Mediterranean islands. 

Interventions based on academic workshops and digital surveys can be a well-working starting approach, they offer understanding and knowledge of the places, accurate reading and interpretation of the values, potential cultural growth of the participants. Moreover, the digital interventions done during the workshops create digital twins of the areas that fix the state of a place in a very narrow lapse of time, creating easy to share and valuable documentation for present and future uses.