Un'antica torre di guardia: orizzonti di conoscenza

Some ancient architectural buildings can offer the opportunity to study the descriptive strategies suitable to communicate not only the objective characteristics of the buildings but also the landscape qualities of the context to which it is inextricably linked, even perceptively, as a lookout ‘looking’ at the horizon. This paper analyzes the ancient tower of Punta Campanella, a well-known nautical reference, today in very precarious conditions; it is located on the extreme tip of the Sorrento peninsula and "watches over" the wide stretch of Tyrrhenian Sea between the Gulf of Naples, the island of Capri, up to the coasts of the gulf of Salerno. The settlement is recognizable through its skyline; the profile becomes the element of detail that characterizes it as an identifiable place in the landscape. It is an episode in which constructive wisdom and historical stratification merge in a context of great natural beauty, which emblematically expresses the characteristics of a multiplicity of artifacts located along the Tyrrhenian coast, whose settlement organization is strongly linked to the morphology of places, often subject to devastating natural and anthropogenic events. What defines the research methodology is not so much the quantity of data, but their strong typological differentiation (3D models, maps, images, photographs, texts, etc.), the substantial inhomogeneity, even within the same category, and the fundamental need to operate according to a multiscale logic, relating the object to the context. This last aspect appears not fully investigated in many of the studies conducted over the years; it stands today as fundamental for the enhancement of intangible and material qualities. The acquisition, processing and dissemination of information, the georeferencing of data, the critical creation of digital images and three-dimensional models, are fundamental steps for the historical reconstruction and restoration project, for the documentation and dissemination of cultural and environmental qualities through the use of multitarget products, easily adaptable to different types of users, with particular attention to the characteristics of the place, to the possibility of stimulating sensations and emotions.