Architectural survey and analysis of the coastal tower of S. Maria dell'Alto in Nardò (Lecce, Italy)

The Santa Maria dell'Alto tower in Nardò (Lecce, Italy) represents one of the many types of coastal towers of the ancient Terra d'Otranto province. It was built between 1568 and 1569 becoming part of the defensive system of the Ionian coast of Salento against the Turkish threat. The architectural survey ad analysis of the tower allowed us to investigate constructive elements, wall discontinuities, additions, subtractions and functional modification in order to understand the phases and the change of the structure over the centuries. Digital photogrammetry and infrared photography have been useful to elaborate a mapping of all the surface degradation and of the different construction materials. The information collected will be used for a restoration and environmental qualification project in order to offer new features to a building abandoned for years. The final phase of the work involved the creation of contributions in 3D Computer Graphics to offer a graphic and documented visualization of the achieved results.