Italian catacombs and their digital presence for underground heritage sustainability

Abstract

The Italian catacombs represent one of the most interesting examples of the country’s underground built heritage. A strategic use of digital technologies can foster their sustainability by providing virtual access to local communities and tourists, as well as by transferring their value to future generations. Referring to a classification of the catacombs of Italy carried out by the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology of Vatican City, this paper analyzes the digital presence of this heritage within the contexts of social media, video sharing and navigation platforms in institutional and touristic areas. The emerging results show a good digital presence of this cultural heritage on these platforms. At the same time, they reflect an almost total absence of 3D technologies, virtual reconstructions or augmented reality. Only 2 out of 63 catacombs analyzed offer a photographic overview of the sites through the online Google Art and Culture platform, but this is only a small example of what a virtual visit would offer. The following work is based on this notion, as it aims to demonstrate that this type of underground built heritage still has great potential for the valorization and sustainability of these sites through the use of digital technologies. The use of virtual and augmented reality, enhanced by immersive storytelling, would limit the physical wear and tear on the site, making its conservation sustainable in the long term.