Documenting Lost Heritage: The Experience of the Survey of Architectures Damaged by the Earthquake in the Emilia Area, Italy

Two years ago, the earthquake that devastated a wide architectural heritage in the Emilia area, in Northern Italy, gave rise to a series of surveys and investigations aimed at both documenting a lost or seriously compromised heritage and at recording information that can be used by different operators (i.e. fire departments, civil protection, engineers, architects, urban planners) and for different uses in different times, concerning the development of safety, recovery, restoration or demolition programs. The aim of this contribution is to show how digital technologies and in particular non-contact 3D survey methodologies can be used as an indispensable practice in order to rapidly and safely produce graphic documentation about an architectural heritage that has been destroyed or severely damaged by a natural disaster. The presented case studies belong to a repertoire that ranges from single buildings to wider complexes that were selected for their historical and cultural importance and for the urgency of the development of intervention plans.