Smart and Mobile Access to Cultural Heritage Resources: A Case Study on Ancient Italian Renaissance Villas

Cultural Heritage Areas together Context-Aware Systems present a great opportunity where the Ambient Intelligence (AmI) paradigm can be successfully applied. This paper deals with the design of an AmI-based Information Systems, based on NFC (Near Field Communication) technology, developed to access Cultural Heritage Areas of particular interest, in which different objects of artistic interest can be interfaced in a proper virtual way without affecting the historical environment. The application of non-invasive technology NFC improves the context-awareness of the implemented system and allows users to receive customized information in a transparent way, through the most suitable device, allowing a realistic experience. The proposed AmI-based Information System is particular related to mobile and safe cultural access in the context of Villa Mondragone, an ancient Renaissance Villa. We outline a real system, called SMART VILLA, based on a set of mobile applets, each interfaced with a NFC based subsystem, related to particular sites (SMART BIBLIO for ancient books, SMART ROOM for particular rooms and SMART GARDEN for surrounding historical gardens).