Digital survey as a base for the recovery of Mezzana settlement, Tuscany: a multidisciplinary reconstruction activity

The village of Mezzana in the municipality of Cantagallo (Prato, Italy), has been built alfway up the south side of one of the mountains of Calvana near the Bisenzio valley, and is dating back to the second half of the sixteenth century. Originally the settlement was inhabited by several families dedicated to working in the fields and raising livestock. Since the fifties, the migration of the inhabitants to the industrialized centers of the neighboring Bisenzio valley, first involved a transformation of the houses into holidays home in the sixties and finally caused their complete abandonment in the seventies. Since 2003, the Municipality has included the village in a recovery project, until in 2017 it was purchased by the voluntary association "Tutto è vita Onlus" in agreement with the monks community "Monaci ricostruttori nella preghiera", with the aim of rebuild it and establish a village of prayer and meditation with an active community there. It was therefore necessary to document the settlement by architectural survey, to analyze the current state de-facto of the area being acquired which was carried out using three survey methods: laser scanner to accurately determine the metric data of the artifacts, photogrammetric method for document the material data of the building facades also using historical photos and aerial photogrammetry to study and carefully document the landscape context of the area pertaining to the village. In the summer of 2017, at the time of the architectural survey, the village was almost in its entirety in a state of ruin: many parts of the walls had collapsed and the vegetation had developed up to the interiors of the buildings. The analysis and processing of the data obtained from the architectural survey, has made it possible to create a robust documentation of the current state de-facto, both of the buildings and of the surrounding area. This analysis has then constituted the necessary basis to set up a project path aimed at the landscape regeneration and the enhancement of the territory, recovering the distinctive and identifying features of the village, its territory and its history. Thanks to the start of the reconstruction of an eco-sustainable village by the voluntary association, it was possible: to begin the recovery of the buildings in the village; encourage the repopulation and the development of organic farming projects in the neighboring lands and plan the population, hospitality, and services in social, spiritual, and cultural meanings. Central fulcrum of the "Borgo tutto è vita" project is the construction of two residential structures to house the terminal ill and where to offer non-confessional medical and spiritual support. The village will always be kept open by some families who will reside in the village together with the monks who will take care of the reception and who will ensure, as happened in the ancient abbeys, that the initiatives that affect the surrounding area start from the village.