Virtual Return of Italian Architectural Heritage: The KNOW.it Project

The article illustrates the digital documentation workflow adopted to effectively use digital survey outcomes in supporting the knowledge and conservation of built heritage. This study was developed as part of the Project of Significant National Interest (PRIN), titled “KNOW.it Transition in Digital Age: KNOWing our background to refine our future”. The research focuses on the cities of Jaú and São Carlos, applying a rigorous methodology that combines archival research, photogrammetry, laser scanning, and 3D modelling. This approach is used to identify, analyse, and digitally reconstruct Italian-influenced eclectic architecture from the late 19th to early 20th century. The initiative supports both scholarly research and public dissemination through a digital platform that will host interactive maps, historical documents, 2D drawings and 3D models. By linking academic research with diasporic memory, KNOW.it highlights how digital tools can preserve and reactivate cultural legacies, fostering transnational heritage dialogue. The project’s use of social media further engages local communities in a participatory process, enriching its digital archive with crowdsourced memories and documents. The project opens up new possibilities for international cooperation, digital heritage practices, and the study of architectural migrations, showing how critically informed digital tools can recontextualise and enhance dispersed historical knowledge.