VIRTUAL REALITY FOR HISTORICAL ARCHITECTURE

Abstract. This article shows a first step in the development of an immersive virtual tour of the Cathedral of Palermo, entering the fields of Digital Cultural Heritage and Edutainment. Its purpose is to help people to gain knowledge about the site, highlighting the complex stratifications that have characterized its history. The development of the project has been possible thanks to different phases of work: surveys were initially carried out by laser scanning, then assembled and processed to obtain the 3D model of the current state; at the same time, the model of reconstruction was processed in several phases, based on historical, archival and iconographic sources; both models were, later, subject to post-processing, preparatory to the development of virtual navigation. The tour scenario includes options in order to make it attractive for the player, such as interactive elements, interfaces and animations.