Rappresentazione e comunicazione del Palazzo della Ragione di Padova e del suo ciclo astrologico

Eight centuries of the history of art and of Padua’s scientific and technological culture deposited on the stones and frescoes of its Palace of Law (Palazzo della Ragione) make this great work of urban architecture a part of the city’s collective identity. This “palimpsest”, legible only to a restricted circle of specialists, should be accessible to a vaster public interested in understanding this object symbol of local culture. The project planned for exhibition in this first phase of development is a series of digital models, employing tomographic-endoscopic visualizations and multiresolution images, for interactive exploration on the web. The various models devised allow the visitor to superimpose the Palace’s current conditions on the various transformations undergone over the centuries. Similarly, comparisons can be made between the astrological fresco cycle with maps of the heavens, cosmological hypotheses, ancient and contemporary astrological treatises, and the related exchange of knowledge between the Orient and the Occident.