This paper describes the case study of the damaged church of St. Francesco in the hamlet of Arquata del Tronto (Italy) that was struck by the earthquake in 2016. The municipality commissioned the research to support the preliminary design of the preservation plan. The first digitisation level has been started from the richness of surveying data acquired from static and dynamic terrestrial laser scanning (TLS), and photogrammetry, overcoming challenging constraints due to the scaffolding covering the surfaces. The geometric survey allowed authors to acquire massively geometric and material information supporting the three-dimensional (3D) volume stratigraphic and the creation of the Heritage Building Information Modelling (HBIM). The paper proposes a shift from the Geographic Information System (GIS)-based analysis of the materials toward spatial HBIM management. Building Archaeology is turned into HBIM 3D volume stratigraphy, overcoming the bidimensional (2D) surface mapping, in favour of a 3D understanding of direct and indirect sources. Material mapping is added to HBIM 3D volume stratigraphy, and each stratigraphic unit (SU) has its proprieties. The 3D volume stratigraphic database has been designed to collect the data on the unit detection at three levels (direct sources data collection, indirect data documentation, the relation among the BIM object elements). A common data environment (CDE) has been set up to share the 3D volume informative models that can be accessed, and all the information gathered. The knowledge transfer using the eXtended reality (XR) has been devoted to the citizen and tourist fruition, enhancing the comprehension of difficult concepts like the SUs to support a better critical 3D reconstruction. It includes the phases of construction across time-lapse documentation that validates related information within the building archaeology informative models leaving spaces to the uncertainty and documenting the relationship established so far thanks to the direct and indirect sources. The result obtained is a live digital twin that can be continuously updated, which justifies the costs and time demanding of HBIM despite 2D drawings.Highlights: • 3D survey and scan-to-HBIM process for the creation of a digital twin were oriented to the preliminary design of the preservation plan of the church of St. Francesco in Arquata del Tronto (Italy). • Stratigraphy is investigated and oriented towards a digitisation process to share different levels of knowledge through new forms of digital-sharing such as Common Data Environment (CDE) and cloud-based BIM platform. • eXtended reality (XR) is the final tool to reach new levels of communication and a wider audience characterised by experts in the construction sector and virtual and non-expert tourists.

This study explores the transformative potential of cyber technologies in the preservation, representation, and restoration of architectural heritage. Bridging technical and humanistic dimensions, it examines how tools like Heritage Building Information Modeling (HBIM), As-Designed BIM, and Virtual Reality (VR) support deeper, multilevel, and multitemporal understandings of cultural sites. Central to the research is an experimental restoration project on the castles of Civitella in Val di Chiana (Arezzo), serving as a methodological testbed for a digitally integrated approach. Developed through a scan-to-BIM process, the project yields a high-fidelity immersive ecosystem—both a rigorous model for future restoration and a VR platform enabling access to previously unreachable spaces. Here, representation is not a secondary or illustrative phase but a central, operative component in historical interpretation and architectural design. This approach embraces cyber representation: a digitally mediated, interactive, and evolving form that extends heritage beyond its physical boundaries. The immersive model fosters renewed dialogue between past and present, encouraging critical reflection on material authenticity, spatial transformation, and conservation strategies within a dynamic, participatory, interactive webVR environment. Representation thus becomes a generative and narrative tool, shaping restoration scenarios while enhancing analytical depth and public engagement. The study ultimately proposes a shift in historical storytelling toward a polyphonic, experiential, cyber-mediated narrative—where technology, memory, and perception converge to create new forms of cultural continuity.

The stronghold of Arquata del Tronto was heavily damaged by earthquakes in 2016 and it drew the attention of the experts in reinforcing historic buildings. They regarded it as a case study, a predicting model of the failure in employing specific construction elements in fortified architecture, whose geometric and material data were only approximately considered. The overhanging battlement is the most seriously damaged part of the building and has raised particular attention and interest. As often happens in other castles and fortresses, it dates back to the late 19th and even more to the 20th century. A first close examination of the building’s repairs shows how the new additions, whose maintenance is difficult, ended in failure. The additions were inspired by ancient details, but nonetheless they are unreasonable from the point of view of structure and durability: they – and even more the irrational repairs of the last decades – are the principal cause of failure. Material decay – closely linked to circumstances and places – has also played a decisive role. An extensive and rigorous historical research is necessary to find the sources and to evaluate their nature and limits, as well as to relate all information to the building, thus operating in close correlation with the building archaeology, by now a so widespread and consolidated research field. Jointly, the written documents and the building itself in its historical stratification allow a better analysis of the structural behaviour , an essential step to achieve an effective restoration planning.