The documentation of urban morphology is linked to the complex operation of representing the city, which over the centuries has been undertaken using different methodologies, instruments, and purposes. The “IT revolution” has expanded the possibility of overlapping and relating multiple pieces of information in connection to the urban organism on the same support and, on the other hand, has opened up new scenarios linked to the use of urban digital twins to support the analysis and urban planning. The 21st century has marked a momentous turning point compared to the recent past: the advent of artificial intelligence has in fact allowed the introduction, alongside Urban Information Systems, of ‘Predictive’ Systems, capable of formulating new scenarios on the basis of the elements available and pictured on 3D models. At the same time, the technical and technological acquisitions of the last century have contributed to evident experimentation on the metaverse, which, although it still exists in a de-emphasised form, is currently a whole universe under construction and expansion. Its rules are written with every passing day, in which the individual can recreate a reality similar to, or absolutely antithetical to, the one they experience on a daily basis, populating virtual cities that elude the established urban dynamics of physical structures.

The reflection on the inclusive and widespread use of the cultural heritage, already in place in the last decade, but exacerbated by the health emergency that began in March 2020, has stimulated the proliferation of alternative experiences that make extensive use of ICT. The variety of tools available has generated a multiplicity of technical solutions based however on the essential operation of the digitisation of the heritage, promoted for years by MiBACT and today even more urgent. This contribution aims to illustrate the work in February 2020 within the "Ghibertiana" project for the preparation of the digital contents of the soon-to-be-established "Centro di Interpretazione del Territorio della bassa Valdisieve" (Interpretation Centre of the Lower Valdisieve Territory) and "Centro di Documentazione su Lorenzo Ghiberti" (Documentation Centre on Lorenzo Ghiberti).

The morphometric documentation of the castles in the lower Valdisieve, which is part of the heritage digitalization program promoted for years by the Italian Ministry of Culture (Ministero della Cultura – MiC), constitutes a significant portion of the broader interdisciplinary and multi-scalar project called Ghibertiana, aimed at enhancing the cultural heritage of this area. During the 11th and 12th centuries, the Valdisieve fell under the dominion of the powerful comital family of the Guidi Counts; their hegemony over these lands continued until the 14th century, when Florence gradually repossessed the frontier territories. From that moment, the architectural heritage of the Guidi, particularly the castle structures, was in some cases reused for different functions within agricultural estates, while in others it was abandoned. The Castle of Vicorati (Municipality of Londa, in the Province of Florence) is an example of particular interest, determined by a precarious state of conservation that risks obliterating it forever. This contribution presents the current state of research conducted within the CHM_Lab (Department of Architecture of the University of Florence) on the Castrum Vicorata, between 2021 and 2024, starting from a digital survey campaign of the castle’s remains, attempting a first interpretation of the structures present in the settlement.

Often, artists of all time periods have unintentionally crystallized in their works the image of landscapes distant in time; of those landscapes, sometimes only faint traces remain, adding to the collection of so-called indirect sources. In many cases, a critical analysis carried out using the comparative method of those iconographic sources allows the inference of the relevant information regarding the layout of places, the structures housed there, and the practice of arts and crafts, or about customs and habits (e.g., dressing, eating, etc.); it is possible to recompose the so-called ‘buried landscapes’ by combining it with, and thanks to, the substantial contributions of other disciplines (such as history, archaeology, and anthropology). This contribution shows the first outcomes of research carried out within the Ghibertiana Project by CHMlab of DIDA (UNIFI), which aims to analyze the ‘landscape characterised by cultivated areas’ from the Florentine countryside in the early fifteenth century. In particular, it is maintained that Lorenzo Ghiberti (Pelago, 1378–Florence, 1455), just like other contemporary artists, depicted territories and architectures he had first experienced in some of the ten bronze panels of the Gates of Paradise of the Baptistery of Florence. He described in great detail the flora, fauna, and anthropic structures of the extra moenia territory. The focus of the early stage of analysis and this contribution is mainly on shelters: temporary structures functional to agricultural work. The encouraging results obtained may give rise to new research on other Florentine landscape elements artfully chiseled in Ghiberti’s workshop.