The “Depositi” Project for Post-Seismic Cultural Heritage Conservation and Digital Engagement

Digitization of damaged cultural heritage is a key strategy for its preservation, management, and enhancement. Integrating HBIM modeling, GIS systems, and XR (Extended Reality) applications enables the development of interoperable information ecosystems that support scientific inquiry and participatory engagement. Within this framework, the “Depositi” project, led by the inter-university center CeDiPa (Centro di ricerca per innovazione, digitalizzazione, valorizzazione e fruizione del patrimonio culturale e ambientale), serves as a testing ground for methodologies to document and promote movable cultural assets stored in post-emergency repositories. Central to the project is a “phygital” approach, blending heritage’s physical and digital dimensions to foster inclusive and accessible narrative frameworks. The case study, involving the 3D digitization of a ceramic collection at the PoMAq museum of L'Aquila, demonstrates the effectiveness of high-resolution scanning technologies and semantic modeling workflows, while also highlighting challenges related to complex artifact geometries. The outcomes support the definition of a replicable model for safeguarding heritage in risk-prone contexts and advance new paradigms for cultural engagement rooted in the interaction between communities, technology, and memory.