Sotto Ciompi Sopra 4+

Immersive 3D app, discover history through archaeology

SottoCiompiSopra is a totally new, immersive 3D app that takes users on an exclusive exploratory journey to discover history through archaeology. The inventive and in many ways experimental app, developed by agreement between the City of Florence and the Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio, offers the public a chance to experience ‘first-hand’ the work being done to protect Florence’s archaeological assets.
SottoCiompiSopra presents a cutaway view of life in the city over about 20 centuries as reflected in the transformations of the Piazza dei Ciompi city block from the foundation of the Roman colony of Florentia to our day, focusing attention on four periods in history:
- the Roman era (1st cent. BCE),
- the Middle Ages (14th cent.),
- two modern-era intervals (1936sotto/1936sopra and 2020).
The narration of each of these four timespans centres on an accurate three-dimensional reconstruction of the urban fabric of the time, which the user may choose to reconnoitre ‘on foot’ or from a bird’s-eye perspective. The urban reorganisation that targeted the city’s Santa Croce quarter in the 1930s is presented in dual reconstructions: the first (1936sopra), based on IT-supported analysis of historical images, is a meticulous evocation of the Piazza dei Ciompi aboveground area as it appeared to Florentine eyes on the eve of the 1936 demolition work; the second (1936sotto) proposes a 3D transposition of the survey map of the ruins of the buildings excavated and documented by the archaeologists, that still lie just a few centimetres below today’s square. Touch commands open the reconstructions from the same viewpoint each time, to facilitate user orientation.
Within each panel, exploration is guided by an introduction (info) that briefly illustrates the context in which the user is immersed and by a number of more in-depth features (hotspots) that narrate aspects of Florentine life and society in each of the historical eras and provide detailed information in text and image formats. The progressively-numbered hotspots, each of which may be consulted at any time on request, are identified by icons placed in ‘strategic’ positions within the virtual reconstructions. Another command allows users to access a help page (guide) and the content credits, to play background music, and to select the language (Italian or English) for this dive into history.