Entering the Emperor’s Villa: an integrated methodology to enrich cognitive accessibility of an archaeological site

The monumental entrance to the Imperial Villa at Tivoli, built by Emperor Hadrian (117-138 AD), is a part of the famous Palace that is currently inaccessible, even though it can be partially explored visually. Although today this access area does not have the same grandeur and monumentality as other areas of the Villa, it should be considered as one of the strategic points for understanding the complexity of the archaeological site. In fact, the area shows the coexistence of distributive paths with different functions, both for imperial and servant use, with structures built at different levels, not all visible to the visitor, especially without entering, but which are fundamental to the design of the imperial residence. All these structures in fact are important for a comprehensive understanding of the space and if completely ignored, would produce in the visitor an evident cognitive gap on some basic concepts of the whole Hadrian’s Villa. The research aims to provide an overall view of the access to Hadrian’s Villa by combining the 3D reality-based models of the site – which digital survey was carried out in August, 2022 – with a plausible reconstruction based on multidisciplinary studies, capable of providing the observer with an appropriate cognitive accessibility of the closed and non-visible areas through real-time online platforms, in order to promote a more inclusive virtual visit, also for non-ambulatory people and from unprecedented points of view. The basic idea of this contribution is therefore to structure, around the digital survey and the reliable 3D model of this area, a cognitive system for the interactive and perceptual enjoyment, in order to encourage the understanding of the area and provide guidelines for the future musealisation and educational applications, in anticipation of a possible inclusion of the site in the walkable visit tour.