Project Profile

In-Cul.Tu.Re. is an innovative research project from Puglia concerning restoration (for new, non-destructive documentation and diagnostic methods), tourism (putting goods in networks and connecting them with local excellence), and culture (giving a voice to places symbolic of local patrimony). The project is based on the awareness that the cultural patrimony of the Grecia Salentina offers numerous underestimated opportunities for study, knowledge, and fruition.

In-Cul.Tu.Re's mission is thus to transform the weak points of the territory into opportunities through the identification of a site for each of the 12 districts of the Grecia Salentina in which to carry out the project's activities, based on three cornerstones:

• Restoration/Conservation: application of non-destructive, innovative diagnostic methods (thermographic mapping, geo-electrical surveys, characterisation of materials, 3D laser scanning;
• Energy efficiency: promotion and planning of intervention models of energy efficiency aimed at recovering and conserving historical buildings;
• Development of ICT tools for promotion and evaluation: heightened reality pathways and virtual reconstructions.

Among the aims of the project is the creation of a web portal which guarantees quality communication and the greatest dissemination of information possible, with the aim of reaching a vast audience. The new technologies developed within the IN-CUL.TU.RE project have two purposes: to improve the mode of communication, combining high quality content with the capacity to reach a full and diversified section of the public, and to provide the opportunity, not just to web users but also to people who live and work in the territory of the Grecia Salentina, to participate in the construction and representation of new knowledge and in the detailing and sharing of informative content and innovative ideas. The activities in In.Cul.Tu.Re. are supported by the "Possible Futures" section, a project of participation and sharing to bring the community into the centre of the territory's needs. The project will bring to fruition a multichannel web platform whose strengths will lie in digitalisation and open data logic. The objective is to enter 2015 with a technical and technological bag of good practices for innovation in culture, tourism, and restoration. 

The objective of the project is therefore to transform the weak points of the territory into opportunity, by activating alaboratorycapable of providing services for theconservationandefficiencyofenergyand theenhancementof historical constructions.

At the current stage 12 case studies have been identified: Archaeological Park of Apigliano (Martano), Church of Saint Francis (Martignano), Wells of Pirro, Wells of Apigliano and Cisterns of Masseria Gloria (Zollino), Crypt of Saint Sebastian (Sternatia), Church of Our Lady of the Angels (Sternatia), Gualtieriis Castle (Castrignano Dei Greci), Molino a cilindri Coratelli e Imparato (Corigliano d'Otranto), Saint George Place (Melpignano), Church of Saint Biagio (Calimera), Church of Saint Stephen (Soleto), Earthenware extraction and production over time in Cutrofiano (Cutrofiano), Archeological Soleto (Soleto).

The choice has been made on the assets (religious architecture, defence architecture, rural architecture, urban public space, archaeological site, thematic path) which can potentially offer the opportunity for the development of creativity through processes of reappropriation by the collective and regeneration of places.

For each site specific research programmes were envisaged, carried out thanks to the support of four providers:

• Turin Polytechnic - Restoration Laboratory: education and support for conducting campaigns of non-destructive inquiry on assets.
• N.R.C - Institute for archaeological and monumental assets (ibam) in Lecce:technological transfer of methodology for the development and application of techniques of diagnosis, restoration, systematisation of results.
• Mario Boella Higher Institute (ismb) in Turin:web development platform, planning and implementation of services for end users.
• C.R.E.S.Co.:development of auditing and projects of energy efficiency, active support for activities of enhancement and integration with the territory and its local production fabric.

ACTIVITIES UPDATE

ARCHAEOLOGICAL PARK OF APIGLIANO (Martano)

• Create an open-source visitors' path in heightened reality
• Encourage aware use by providing a complete interpretation of the archaeological area.
• Incentivise the attractiveness of the Park.

CHURCH OF SAINT FRANCIS (Martignano)

• Verify the conditions of conservation of structures and surfaces.
• Study the execution techniques, the constituent materials of restoration, biological degradation.
• Assess the microenvironmental conditions.
• Insert the Church of Saint Francis as a case study in Sicar (Information System for the cataloguing of restoration sites).

WELLS OF PIRRO, APIGLIANO AND CISTERNS OF MASSERIA GLORIA (Zollino)

• Map the visible and invisible wells.
• Analyse materials and execution techniques.
• Study the functioning of the system by reconstructing the geology and hydrogeology of the site.

CRYPT OF SAINT SEBASTIAN (Sternatia)

• Assess the state of conservation of the structure and surfaces.
• Characterise the materials, degradation and execution techniques.
• Assess the microenvironmental conditions

CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF THE ANGELS (Sternatia)

• Rebuild the memory of the place.
• Assess the state of conservation of the walls and surfaces.
• Study the execution techniques, the constituent materials of restoration of the wall decoration.
• Assess the microenvironmental conditions.
• Assess the energy behaviour of the Church.
• Provide solutions for the energy efficiency of the building.

GUALTIERIIS CASTLE (Castrignano Dei Greci)

• Assess the energy behaviour of the Castle.
• Provide solutions for the energy efficiency of the Castle.
• Design a system of regulation of the environmental and microclimatic parameters.
• Assess the state of conservation of the structure and surfaces.

CORATELLI AND IMPARATO ROLLER MILL (Corigliano d'Otranto)

• Assess the state of conservation of the structures.
• Rebuild the memory of the place.
• Enhance the asset through reconnection to cultural activities and local production.

SAINT GEORGE PLACE (Melpignano)

• Re-illuminate Saint George Place and restore its value and centrality through: a study of feasibility aimed at containing consumption and saving energy; shared planning; the delivery of a definitive project to citizens.
• Assess the state of conservation of the porticoes of the Square.

CHURCH OF SAINT BIAGIO (Calimera)

• Assess the structural conditions.
• Study the execution techniques and al fresco materials.
• Verify the presence of archaeological remains.

CHURCH OF SAINT STEPHEN (Soleto)

• Verify the conditions of conservation of structures and surfaces.
• Study the materials constituting the al frescoes.
• Create a three-dimensional model of the building with restitution in high definition of the internal pictorial cycles.
• Improve cognitive accessibility to the al frescoes through integration of digital restoration.
• Create an interactive guide to the al fresco cycle.

ARCHEOLOGICAL SOLETO (Soleto)

• Create an interactive digital archaeological map.
• Communicate effectively and immediately the study of the ancient presence of man and the transformation of the territory of Soleto.
• Promote and enhance the archaeological testimony present.

Earthenware extraction and production over time (Cutrofiano)

• Recount the territory of Cutrofiano through the production of ceramics, an artisanal activity particular to the local economy.
• Create an interactive itinerary for the discovery of places tied to the production cycles of ceramics.