Articles by Guido Caldarelli

Preface to the section Networks and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology and Art History: Essays from the Venice Symposium (5-6 December 2024)

The article introduces the concept of ‘Long Data’ as an innovative approach to enhancing the cultural heritage preserved in historical archives. This concept distinguishes itself from Big Data by focusing on the deep historical context found in meticulously preserved archives, revealing valuable insights into cultural heritage. By using new Artificial Intelligence technologies in harmony with traditional archival methods, Long Data aims to analyze, transcribe, and model historical data on an unprecedented scale. This approach promises a more comprehensive understanding of history, improving studies on social and cultural evolution. A key example of Long Data’s application is the Venice State Archive (ASVe), which holds documents dating back over a millennium. The initiative seeks multidisciplinary collaboration to make this vast archive accessible, thereby safeguarding cultural heritage and paving the way for a revolution in historical research.

This study presents a novel approach for remote Fiber Optic Reflectance Spectroscopy (FORS) applied to the Renaissance painting Saints Peter and Stephen, tentatively attributed to Antonio del Massaro da Viterbo. The painting, housed at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venice, was analyzed using both contact and remote FORS, with the latter performed at an 8 meter distance using a custom optical setup inspired by astronomical techniques. The reflectance spectra obtained in both configurations showed strong agreement, enabling the identification of pigments such as iron-based yellows, red lake, malachite, and azurite. The findings offer new insights into the artist’s material choices and techniques, while also demonstrating the feasibility of remote FORS as a non-invasive diagnostic tool for cultural heritage. Future developments will focus on refining the optical setup to further improve measurement accuracy and expand the applicability of remote FORS in heritage science