The Missing Sky: A Dome for the SS. Medici of Alberobello. VR for Heritage Valorization

The basilica of SS. Medici represents an extremely important urban hub for the Alberobello community, but today's monumental building appears incomplete: although the original project made by the architect Antonio Curri included a 23-m-high dome, this structure is absent. Luckily, contemporary Extended Reality technologies enable architects and other experts to give the complete sacred space back to the citizens in a virtual way in order to both encourage the development of a more informed debate between community and authorities on the topic of interventions on historical and architectural heritage and promote an architectural intervention. To achieve this goal a Virtual Reality immersive application has been realized and shown to citizens during a public event. A digital twin of the church has been obtained through photogrammetry. Subsequently, a 3D model of the base and elevation was created on the basis of images and plans and, finally, a three-dimensional file of the dome provided by Professor Fallacara was optimized and put in the project. Once the virtual project was done – joining the 3D dome, roof and walls –, Unreal Engine 4 was used to program a Virtual Reality application.