Strategies for the Digitalization of Cultural Heritage

The COVID-19 pandemic caused despair, poverty and, above all, pain and death across the planet. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that it has also given a strong global impetus to the digital world, asserting its importance, sustainability and richness of perspectives. With our work we intend to establish a set of best practices aimed at defining methods and technologies that will enable those fascinated by digital technologies to contribute effectively to the digitisation of cultural heritage on a large scale. Various aspects that play a crucial role in the digitisation of artifacts will be discussed, with a focus on the issues involved in the manual realisation of works using Blender and Unity software. For demonstration purposes, two very popular use cases in the Umbria region of Italy are presented: “Piazza IV Novembre” in Perugia with the magnificent “Fontana Maggiore”, the “Palazzo dei Priori” and the Duomo on one side and the Republic square in Foligno on the other, with the Duomo, the Bishop’s house and the Diocesan Museum, the Town Hall and “Palazzo Trinci”. The first realization was carried out using photogrammetry techniques, the software Blender and Unity, while the second was carried out exclusively with Blender and Unity. The theme is highly relevant in Europe, particularly Italy, where the topic is part of the post-COVID-19 National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP).