The improvement of the historical, artistic and architectural heritage today represents a strategic priority to ensure the safeguard and fruition of goods that constitute the cultural identity of a territory. In Italy in particular, the need to make these assets accessible to an increasingly wider and more diversified public is forcefully emerging, adopting innovative tools to communicate their value and history. The proposed essay recounts the objectives and results of the research “Strategies for the valorization of architectural heritage in rural areas”, financed by the European Social Fund and coordinated by Iuav, University of Venice. Through the case study of the Collalto Castle, the research aims to develop a methodology for enhancing the historical-architectural heritage in rural areas through the combined action of design experiments, as a form of knowledge of sites and architectural artefacts, and specific tools for the digitalisation of knowledge, such as augmented reality and virtual reality. Dating back to XII century and destroyed during the bombings of the First World War, the Collalto Castle is today the subject of a rediscovery process, also thanks to its location in the buffer zone of the UNESCO site “The Hills of Prosecco of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene”.