Cultural Memory and Digital Heritage: The “Villa Del Casale of Piazza Armerina” Project

Abstract This paper explores the relationship between cultural memory, heritage archives, and digital technologies through the case study of the Villa del Casale in Piazza Armerina, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997. Building on theoretical frameworks developed in the last decades, it highlights how archives function not as neutral repositories but as active agents in shaping memory through processes of selection, interpretation, and narration. The project “Digital strategies for enhancing cultural heritage: the Villa del Casale of Piazza Armerina” addresses these challenges by digitizing over a century of archaeological documentation, unpublished excavation diaries, and stored artifacts. Through 3D scanning, semantic metadata enrichment, and an open-source Web platform, the initiative creates a digital ecosystem that bridges the Museum of Palazzo Trigona, the Villa, and their archival collections. Ultimately, the project demonstrates how digital technologies not only safeguard fragile heritage but also actively reshape European cultural memory, transforming archaeological sites into global memory platforms.