The increasing use of geophysical investigations for archaeological purposes is now provided also by Italian reforms about preventive archaeology. They allow not only the discovery or the spatial definition of possible buried archaeological evidence, but they are also able to define the state of preservation of ancient structures. The Bocca delle Menate archaeological site is in Comacchio village territory, situated in Ferrara provence (Emilia Romagna region, Italy). The archeological site provides important evidence of the Roman presence in the Po Delta (Italy). The Roman villa was excavated between 1958 and 1959, during the reclaiming works in the Mezzano Valley (Comacchio, Ferrara). An archaeological preliminary survey and a geophysical field trip using Geomagnetic and Frequency Domain Electromagnetic Methods were carried out, following the aim to identify the planimetry of the villa previously excavated and eventually newly discovered archaeological remains. The geomagnetic results detected the archaeological buried structures, even if the original disposition of them is not completely highlighted. The electromagnetic method was able to depict the geological and geomorphological background surrounding the Roman villa. The obtained results highlighted that the applied geophysical methods are excellent tools for the preservation, protection, and monitoring of archaeological heritage previously excavated, adding to their already known importance as best tools for new archaeological buried remains detections.

The Bocca delle Menate archaeological site is located in Comacchio town (FE) and provides important evidence of the Roman presence in the Po Delta (Italy). The excavations realized sixty years ago have confirmed the presence of an extensive Roman villa and some part of it was highlighted. With the aim to identify the villa plan and the old highlighted archaeological remains, an archaeological preliminary survey and a geomagnetic geophysical campaign were carried out in October 2020. Although geophysical methods are now considered the best tools for archaeological detections, our results show that they are also excellent tools for the preservation, protection and monitoring of the excavated archaeological heritage.

Recent advances in generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) have rapidly transformed research and practice across the Cultural Heritage domain. While several studies have investigated AI applications in documentation, analysis and dissemination, a focused and critical assessment of generative AI within 3D virtual reconstruction workflows is still lacking. This paper presents a systematic review of the literature addressing the use of generative AI in 3D heritage virtual reconstructions, with particular attention to methodological implications, scientific reliability and ethical challenges. A large-scale bibliographic analysis covering publications from 2015 to 2024 was conducted using OpenAlex, complemented by targeted manual searches. From an initial corpus of over 8700 papers on 3D heritage reconstruction, only 13 directly addressed generative AI-driven reconstruction processes. The analysis highlights a significant gap between the rapid technological development of AI-based tools and their cautious, often problematic, adoption in virtual reconstruction practices. Results reveal recurring issues related to terminological ambiguity, opacity of reconstruction processes, evaluation metrics focused on visual plausibility rather than scientific transparency and the risk of interpretative bias. The paper argues that current AI-driven approaches tend to privilege speed and aesthetic outcomes over heuristic, source-based reconstruction workflows. Finally, future research directions are discussed, emphasizing the potential role of AI as an evaluative and analytical support tool rather than a fully autonomous reconstruction agent, in alignment with established charters and principles of virtual archaeology.