| The system was constructed with the collaboration of the entire scientific research team and the assistance of all the researchers and restorers who were called to carry out specific tasks within the overall project. To render the system easier to operate, photogrammetric studies were used to construct a cartographic reference archive containing, in various scales of representation, the Basilica of San Francesco in its urban context in Arezzo, the choir and, in more detail, each of the scenes painted by piero della Francesca.
This cartographic scaffolding then became, thanks to the elaboration of electronic technology, a system within the system, constituting the principal informative fulcrum for access to and further elaboration of the data stored in the System.
The cartographic model permits the System to store and correlate all kinds of documents (texts, graphics, images) both for consultation of the archive and for the production of synthesized information by way of thematic charts and maps./font>
This innovative method of data management has made it possible to achieve the various documentation objectives in support of the Project, from registration and codification to the elaboration of data.
The first task was the compilation of thousands of documents : illustrations the three walls of the church choir were compiled in a basic cartographic model and in a variety of thematic mappings with reference to historical studies, visual surveys, diagnostic studies, and scientific analyses and complemented by some 1000 historical/chronological records related to various episodes and events from the origins of the church to the present day, by more than 25,000 visual images (standard and high quality analytical and diagnostic photographic documentation of samples), by a vast bibliographical and archival data base, and by the most minute technical documentation of the restoration in process (work site diary, graphs and charts of the work performed, technical specifications etc.).
The System's most unique quality, however, is its ability to combine and correlate the various kinds of data and information produced and reworked by the different thematic archives relative to the structures, the painted surfaces and the environment. The vast and diversified accumulation of knowledge acquired during the project called for an interdisciplinary approach that would enable the system not only to conserve the data as it was gathered but also to update it and render it accessible in the various forms required for future checking and monitoring, and to produce new kinds of data, as in the case of new models and virtual simulations. In this regard the System's specially designed and developed software applications have expanded on and put into practical operation what was contemplated in the methodological plan.
The System constitutes, with its ongoing gathering and processing of documentation in support of the Project, a continuous program of historical research, conceived as an instrument for acquiring knowledge about the events that have accompanied the work of art from its creation to the present day. Its special feature isits ability to record the various kinds of newly obtained information in the terminology and technical and scientific language appropriate to the various disciplines that have produced the information, while at the same time ensuring an adequate synthesis of the information through the creation of ad hoc cataloging and mapping systems, Furthermore, the system operates in the complete respect of the iconographic and technical value of the work as exemplified by its faithful documentation of the various painting techniques employed by the artist: from the transfer of the preparatory design through the use of stenciled cartoons, etched lines and colored threads, to the application of color to the fresh plaster (a fresco), partially dried plaster (a mezzo fresco), and finally to the dried plaster with special temperas and organic blending agents. A further example of the System's unique capabilities is its reconstruction of the artist's production for each "working day".
A particularly challenge was posed by the comparative reconstruction, using documents and on sight studies, of previous restorations and other events which played an important role in the life of the fresco cycle over the past five centuries.
To satisfy the need for rapid consultation in the service of monitoring the state of conservation and the progress of the restoration, System designers developed a thematic glossary with a unified terminology of key words for research and access to the data organized first in separate technical files and then electronically translated to permit interactive consultation.
The series of computerized records is composed as follows: images, historical events, mineralogical and petrographical analyses, chemical and stratographic analyses, trial restorations, interventions, restoration, work site diary.
Finally, the System plays an essential role, through its on-line connection to the work site, in managing the traditional paper documentation kept by the project director and the restoration technicians and allowing them to have immediate access to and use of the data stored in the System.
SCHEDA TECNICA
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