The Fort of the Holy Savior in Messina. Historical cartography and digital surveys

The restoration of monuments is inevitably translated throughout the modification of the state of things, which means. the modification of the only certain "document" that makes it possible in understanding the history of the artefact, attributing chronologies to the different parts of which such architectures are composed of and in preparing calibrated projects for specific environmental requirements. Therefore, the documentation prior to the intervention is a necessity that in recent decades has had positive impulses throughout the use of laser scanning techniques making it possible to acquire a great deal of information that constitutes accurate apparatus for the project elaboration. The fort of SS. Salvatore is located at the end of the neck of land facing the city of Messina, a curved shape similar to a sickle, which suggested to the Chalcidian Greeks the city name attribution of Zancle. The fortress was built in later periods and incorporates also a tower from the Norman era. From the Aragonese period onwards, but above all, as part of the reorganization of the strongholds ordered by Charles V, other fortification works were juxtaposed by Ferramolino, who also incorporated the remains of the Church of the Holy Saviour in the Phari language, which in the Norman period, all the so- called 'Basilian' churches of Valdemone depended. The survey of the fortress, which has undergone various tampering and transformations over the centuries, was carried out using photogrammetry and laser scanning techniques making it possible to identify and document important vestiges, recognizing certain historical events that affected the multi- layered site, as well as providing useful support for the design and control of the intervention.