Abstract
Abstract. Historical maps represent an important source of geographical information. The changes occurred over time can be extrapolated from them, especially if their geometric accuracies match those achievable with modern survey techniques. An 1820 map belonging to the Gregorian Cadastre provides the position of seven hermitages belonging to the monastery of Fara in Sabina (Italy). Just three of them are nowadays visible, while the others may have been covered by thick vegetation or been destroyed during the Second World War. The paper proposes the integration of geomatic techniques for the localization of the lost hermitages. To do so, Structure from Motion (SfM) algorithms were applied to UAV imagery to produce an orthophoto of the area. In addition, a GNSS survey was carried out using a professional and a low-cost receiver to correctly georeference the photogrammetric products. An accuracy assessment was then performed to evaluate the performance of the u-blox board in real applications. The accuracies obtained with the low-cost receiver indicates a possible more widespread utilization of these new devices. Subsequently, the comparison between the orthophoto and the cadastral map have been detailed. A weak correspondence between the position of the hermitages in the two maps have been observed. On the other side, the comparison led to the localization of two lost hermitages, with the other two being still undiscovered. This study has opened the door to an enhancement process of the monastery and to the rediscovery of the religious values of the hermitages.
Highlights
The object of the study is the monastery of Santa Maria dell'Orazione
The position of the three hermitages known today has been measured during the GNSS survey and it is identifiable in the orthophoto
The proposed methodology has led to the localization of two old hermitages which were forgotten by monastic community
Summary
The object of the study is the monastery of Santa Maria dell'Orazione. It is located in Fara in Sabina, a municipality in the Province of Rieti and part of the Lazio Region. The monastery is nowadays an articulated structure with a strong religious appeal It is home of a church, a refectory with its dormitory for pilgrims, a library and the cloistered area, inside which the nuns reside. To perform an accurate assessment of the location of the hermitages based on the ancient map, high accuracy is required both from GNSS and photogrammetric surveys. The surveying techniques were already considerably accurate in XVIII century, at least in urban areas (Baiocchi et al, 2013) Already available data, such as 1:5.000 scale Regional Technical Map, have a lower accuracy and does not give any information on the ancient or current location of the hermitages. In this paper we highlighted the main steps through which it was possible to locate two of the lost hermitages
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