Digital Reconstruction Models for the Enjoyment of Archaeological Heritage: The Case of the Santa Mustiola Site in Peccioli

The archaeological site, Santa Mustiola, holds significant interest in reconstructing the early and medieval phases of the Valdera region in Tuscany. The discoveries made during the excavations of a cemetery associated with a church in the area provide new insights into the relationships between Tuscan centers and those in the trans-Apennine region. The significance of these findings underscores the necessity of making the archaeological site accessible to the public, despite ongoing excavation. However, the remains of the church’s early medieval phase have been heavily compromised and altered by numerous historical stratifications, making them difficult for non-specialists to understand. This article aims to illustrate the methodological framework applied to the digital reconstruction of the Santa Mustiola archaeological site in Peccioli. The primary goal is to create a hypothetical model of the church’s earliest phase for dissemination purposes. Given the limited hypotheses derived solely from the available archaeological data, it was necessary to examine the region’s historical context, review excavation reports, and analyze a sample of coeval churches selected as a case study. These examples provided references for the metrical and formal choices made during the digital reconstruction. Additionally, the analysis employed a statistical approach which, albeit in its preliminary stages, helped exclude certain hypotheses in favor of others. The results of these analyses were then integrated with the archaeological survey data to produce a virtual reality model accessible via a virtual reality headset.