Villa D’Elboeuf: knowledge for enhancement

The identity of a monument persists even if, for various reasons, it is abandoned and left to degradation. However, abandonment causes the clouding of identity and the consequentloss of cultural and material values. Moreover, it risks leading to lack of awareness in the community to which it belongs. The creation of an integrated system of knowledge concerning a building of historical and monumental importance can be an effective action of enhancement, besides being necessary to plan suitable restoration and conservation actions. This study is proposed as a significant example aimed at showing how enhancement can be carried out through a diagnostic plan which is used to reconstruct the digital case sheet of the work and to define a useful reference framework to recover its identity. Specifically, Villa D’Elboeuf, a building of remarkable historical and architectural value located in the municipality of Portici, in the region Campania, Italy, and, unfortunately, left to complete abandonment, was studied. This state of abandonment, also characterized by strong degradation, induced authors to elaborate a paper through the systematization of existing information and the integration of further data from specialized investigations on micro-samples of constituent materials, with the purpose of creating a specific digital case sheet to be used as a knowledge base for further research. Therefore, the digital case sheet is a first useful support instrument for the enhancement and restoration of a monumental work of great value, which is also emblematic of the condition of other villas situated along the coasts of the region Campania.