Articles

A Digital Workflow for the Diachronic Reconstruction and Virtual Re-contextualization of Fresco Palimpsests in the Santa Maria in Via Lata Hypogeum.


Abstract


This study presents a digital workflow for the diachronic reconstruction and virtual re-contextualization of fresco palimpsests in the Santa Maria in Via Lata hypogeum, Rome. By integrating TLS and photogrammetric data, historical documentation, stratigraphic interpretation and the Extended Matrix protocol, the workflow reconstructs the 6th-century architectural setting as a spatial framework for the decorative phases between the 6th and 11th centuries. It formalizes the links between surviving masonry, detached fresco fragments and virtual stratigraphic units, making explicit the evidential chain from measured data to reconstruction hypotheses. The result is a transparent methodology for fragmented, displaced and stratigraphically superimposed heritage evidence.


Keywords


Diachronic reconstruction; Extended Matrix (EM); Virtual restoration; Virtual re-contextualization; 3D survey; Fresco palimpsests

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2423/i22394303v16n1p37

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Copyright (c) 2026 Zhangliang Shuai, Marco Giorgio Bevilacqua, Gabriella Caroti, Andrea Piemonte, Federico Capriuoli, Giulia Bordi

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