A Gnomonic Hole Sundial: Between Reality and Simulation

The paper proposes integrating a visit to the University Palace of Genoa with the applications of digital panoramic photography and augmented reality, to show how it is possible to reconcile a real visit with a virtual one, without sac-rificing, at least in part, contact with the cultural object. In particular, the aim is to illustrate the functioning of a scientific instrument found inside the Pal-ace: it is the sundial with a gnomonic hole created in 1771 by François Rodol-phe Corréard, Jesuit astronomer and mathematician. The University Palace of Genoa was born as the headquarters of the Jesuit College from an agreement between the Order and the important Genoese Balbi family. From the entrance hall, the monumental staircase leads to the single courtyard overlooked by the classrooms arranged on the sides on two levels. The residences of the fathers overlook it on the top floor, set back for reasons of privacy, and are distributed from the corridor of Saint Ignace, at the end of which was the domestic library. It is this last room, now used as a university classroom and conference room, which would come to host the gnomonic hole sundial.