Valorization and Protection of Cultural Heritage via Innovative Technologies

Dear Colleagues,

Conservation and valorization of cultural heritage (CH) benefits from novel technological solutions that are capable of performing non-invasive diagnostics and monitoring with improved fruition and accessibility.

Within this framework, diagnostic and monitoring technologies have received huge attention, particularly those that are aimed at:

• assuring periodic and systematic evaluation of degradation phenomena due to natural aging and anthropic causes;
• supporting the planning of preventive actions for the mitigation of risk factors;
• reducing the costs of restoration interventions, thanks to maintenance interventions;
• monitoring the flow of visitors, in order to properly manage site accessibility while assuring safety.

Moreover, the adoption of technological tools devoted to attracting tourists’ attention and to assuring the widespread fruition of CH properties is considered the key to offering a personalized visiting experience.

According to the above considerations, the goal of the Special Issue is to present the state of art of diagnostic and monitoring technologies which act, both in situ and ex situ, on satellites (optical and radar) and airborne platforms, including drones, and that are aimed at gathering information useful to the monitoring of natural and anthropic hazards, assessing of structural integrity, and characterization of the conservation conditions of artworks and their materials. In addition, the Special Issue takes into accounts sensors for detecting global and local environmental changes, including those devoted to measuring climatic parameters and weathering effects, as well information and communication methodologies for virtual representations and augmented reality.

Therefore, we invite papers on the following non-exhaustive list of topics:

• Sensing, diagnostic, and monitoring technologies;
• Local and distributed sensors for monitoring climate effects;
• Methodologies for artwork investigations and materials characterization;
• Multiscale imaging;
• Multiparametric investigations;
• Advanced data processing technologies applied to the valorization and conservation of CH;
• Augmented reality technologies;
• Best practices for CH management;
• Case studies dealing with valorization and conservation of CH.

Dr. Nicole Dore
Dr. Ilaria Catapano
Dr. Federico Saccoccio
Dr. Francesca Cocco
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Heritage is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.