An Integrated Digital Approach to the Knowledge and Documentation of the Wooden Set of the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza

The contribution aims to illustrate the knowledge process adopted for the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, one of the last surviving examples of Italian Renaissance theatres, still preserving its original form and function. It was designed by Andrea Palladio, and in 1585, on the theatre’s first performance, Oedipus Rex, Vincenzo Scamozzi was commissioned to design the fixed wooden flats for the stage scenery. The scenic apparatus, still intact today, is made of wood and plaster and depicts the streets of Thebes. The unique feature of these flats lies in the perspective arrangement chosen to create the illusion of a three-dimensional space extending beyond the stage. The sets, disassembled during the Second World War to protect from bombing, were reassembled between 1946 and 1948. The research, conducted by the Università Iuav di Venezia and commissioned by the local office of the Ministry of Culture, aims to understand the transformations the sets have undergone and assess their state of conservation with a view to a conservation-restoration project. Archival research was combined with geometric surveying of the structure using geomatic techniques. Those techniques enabled the creation of a digital information model (HBIM) for the first time for this structure, integrating geometric, historical, and technical analytical data and including material analyses and microclimatic monitoring to determine the condition of the elements, as well as acoustic monitoring, to understand the theatre’s response. The study promotes a multidisciplinary approach to knowledge, integrating diverse digital techniques to propose a conservation and monitoring project for this cultural heritage site.