With ancient monuments, it often happens that following their discovery components of them have to be moved, albeit temporarily, to museums in order to carry out restoration work. In the case of funerary contexts, a consequence of this is the de-contextualization of grave goods and furnishings, making it impossible to convey the significance of the archaeological monument as a whole. An effective solution to this problem can be achieved by using technology to provide virtual experiences in which the grave goods, for example, are virtually restored to their original contexts. This paper presents the “Marta Racconta. Storie Virtuali di Tesori Nascosti” project, co-financed by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Puglia, undertaken by CNR-IBAM (Lecce, Italy) in order to install a virtual platform in the National Archaeological Museum of Taranto (MARTA). The project aims to make `accessible' ancient monuments from the Greek Taras (the ancient Taranto), such as the Twin Tombs Monumental Complex, the Tomb of the Festoons, and the Hypogeum of the Gorgons, discovered some years ago in Via Otranto. The first two of the these monuments are closed to the public, while the third was filled in and is currently located below a road. From a technological point of view, a real time 3D platform for immersive stereoscopic visiting was developed, with a navigation system using a `natural interface' and commands executed with simple hand gestures. Using this technology, visitors will be able to follow an integrated knowledge itinerary based on heterogeneous content including historical and archaeological data and the results of archaeometric analyses. This involves spatial navigation within a hyper-realistic environment where it will be possible to interact with the 3D structures, to query the database and to interact with

The paper was aimed to promoting and improving the knowledge of the Naples city’s monuments through an immersive visit experience, according to the paradigms of new digital languages. Thanks to the use of integrated technologies, some monuments of the city are presented in virtual way, with unusual viewpoints, that reveal previously unseen details, many of them not directly visible to tourists. A journey created by the use of integrated technologies, to discover historical facades and museums to be explored in total freedom, without physical constraints, without cognitive barriers. The technological basis supporting the visit consists of integrated solutions including digital photogrammetry, 3D modelling, virtual restoration and persuasive storytelling, all organised to provide a product for the general public, to be enjoyed with VR headsets. The available contents are organised on different reading levels, in according to three paths that include: a visit to the MANN (National Archaeological Museum of Naples), a visit within the virtual room dedicated to the most important museums of the city and a virtual walk through the decumani, the heart of historical centre. The virtual enjoyment of contexts no longer visible in original state or not accessible by tourists is resolved by the virtual reconstruction and re-location of artefacts in a virtual space, here called Virtual Room.

In this paper, we propose VirtualTour. This is a virtual reality app for Apple iOS 8 (tablets, smartphones) supporting the easy and natural exploration of Cultural Heritage sites captured with 3D scanning technologies or modeled by artists. VirtualTour proposes a novel approach for exploring virtual sites by exploiting modern mobile devices (tablets or phones) and their embedded sensors. The navigation is constrained to follow a pre-defined path in the virtual space; the user can progress on the path either by manipulating a simple slider or directly walking in real-world (the device sensors detect user's steps and progress accordingly in the virtual visit). The view is rotated according to mobile device's rotation (again, using the device sensors). The main focus of this app is to provide a mobile access to hidden or inaccessible sites (e.g. caves, temples, buildings, etc), using 3D representation and breaking the usability barrier that often hinders the navigation in complex models on top of mobile devices.