## 1 Introduction  
### Aims of e-Archeo Project  
e-Archeo is the first large-scale Italian project that brings together the public and private sectors in a process of co-creation and sharing of expertise. It was promoted by the General Secretary of the Italian Ministry of Culture (MiC) and was realised thanks to the support of ALES, an in-house company of MiC. The main objective of the e-Archeo project is to create an innovative multimedia platform that can narrate the contexts of some archaeological sites of national interest through different communication formats, making them digitally accessible. So far, e-Archeo has involved eight important archaeological parks spread across Italy whose narrative potential had not yet been fully expressed: Sirmione and Desenzano (Lombardia region), Marzabotto (Emilia-Romagna region), Cerveriet (Lazio region), Alba Fucens (Abruzzo region), Velia (Campania region), Egnazia (Puglia region), Sibari (Calabria region) and Nora (Sardegna region) (Figure 1) [1]. Further and more specific objectives of the project are:  
(1) To represent the richness of Italian archaeology, which is not limited to the large sites crowded with visitors but covers the entire national territory;  
(2) To show the strength of the cultural integration that made the mosaic of peoples with different experiences and cultures who occupied Italy at the beginning of the first millennium a unity under the supremacy of Rome. The choice of sites was therefore dictated by the variety of their origins: Etruscan cities, Greek, Phoenician and Roman colonies, and indigenous settlements, which well illustrate how different realities gradually adapted to the social life of the Romans;  
(3) To restore, thanks to virtual reconstructions, the third dimension that was lost over the centuries;  
(4) To highlight the relationship of each site with the territory and with the major trade routes (sea, rivers, roads, etc. ); great importance was therefore given to the holistic view, in addition to the monographic one, and virtual reconstructions on a landscape scale were attempted for the first time, for some sites;  
(5) To represent and narrate the evolution of sites, from foundation to abandonment through the visualisation of the current state (the archaeological landscape) and virtual reconstructions referring to one or more past phases of life, in a kind of mixed reality experience. The selection of monuments or contexts was conditioned by their importance, as well as the state of advancement of studies and documentation that could be made available;  
(6) To give emphasis to a wide range of contexts: places of public life (forums, basilicas, streets, squares and markets); sacred spaces (temples and sanctuaries) and leisure buildings (baths); ample emphasis was placed on necropolises and funerary goods, which provide us  
Figure 1: Map of Italy showing the location of the eight archaeological sites considered in the e-Archeo project. with important documents for the knowledge of funerary rituals and daily life. There is no shortage of private spaces, the houses, exemplified in various historical phases, from the archaic period to late antiquity, but also the villas, which are emblematic of luxury and, at the same time, show the close relationship with the territory;  
(7) To design a communication plan that takes into account the variety of users to be reached. Various tools and communication styles were therefore implemented to illustrate the different contents: we provide to the scholar all the information to follow the process of virtual reconstruction (levels of reliability, sources and interpretative processes); captivating narratives are instead provided to the curious visitor, reconstructing perspectives that are generally missed. The project devotes special attention to inclusion aspects, proposing solutions suitable for a variety of targets including people with disabilities. e-Archeo has strongly demonstrated how virtual reconstructions are not only a tool to convey consolidated knowledge.