The fortified medieval settlement of Rocca Montis Dragonis (Mondragone, Caserta – Italy) virtually alive

The fortified settlement of Rocca Montis Dragonis (Caserta-Italy) is located on the top of Mount Petrino, between the river Liri-Garigliano to the north, and the river Volturno to the south. From 2001 until now, archaeological investigations discovered a big part of the entire settlement, known on written sources from 12th century, which is a big size hilltop site, characterized by a complex group of structures hierarchically distributed in three different areas. The main focus of this work is to produce friendly communication tools, aimed to develop storytelling, by Virtual Reality methods, concerning the results of recent archaeological excavations, and in particular those aspects from which generates the phenomenon of “incastellamento”. The methodology used in this research runs from detailed observations of the artefacts evidence and from the study of low scale settlement dynamics, to the general interpretations concerning the architecture of the Rocca Montis Dragonis and the social and economic aspects referred to the building opera. On what concerns these aspects we could define this method an “inductive” one, from which originates every scientific result. The main targets of this paper have been the use of the huge archive deriving from the archaeological activities, interesting one of the most important medieval castle of northern Campania (Italy), to reconstruct with new technologies the original shape and the life of this settlement. Moreover the application of 3D virtual technology is aimed to the best promotion, knowledge, protection and conservation of this particular item of cultural medieval heritage.