Receiving from the past to communicate the future: the case of S. Maria delle Macchie in Marche region

The Abbey of Santa Maria extra moenia is a historical complex located in the Marche region (Italy). It has undergone substantial transformations over the centuries. For this reason, the historical and critical interpretation requires a key capable of simplifying the understanding of all the modifications. Starting from both an archival study and an architectural survey, we created different 3D models to help analyze and understand all the historical and architectural phases of the complex. The 3D-model reconstructions are based on metric and land surveys. The survey permitted us to identify seven main historical phases. In this way knowledge of the abbey becomes an elaborate history that needs an appropriate dissemination tool. The abbey is now abandoned due to its poor state and no action has been taken for its improvement or preservation. A first step in raising awareness of this forgotten cultural object is to foster better knowledge of its history through a new visual interface that is able to clarify all the events that have occurred over time. In order to explain the complex history of the abbey, we tested a new approach based on the use of a mock-up as a physical interface allowing access to different digital content. For this purpose we used open-source hardware: an Arduino-based microcontroller, named Makey Makey, connected to different parts of the mock-up through wired buttons. In this way, the computer processes the signal coming from the buttons using the mock-up like a keyboard to manage all the information related to the abbey.