What is TLS (Terrestrial Laser Scanner)

In this paper we propose a multidisciplinary approach concerning the tower of Mongialino in Mineo (Sicily), which is a unique case in Sicily of a cylindrical tower with an inner cylindrical nucleus. The vestiges of the dungeon rise on a rock promontory that dominates the valley of Margi, a site that has great landscape and territorial value. The building is affected by important collapses and lesions, and urgently requires a safeguard intervention that requires a deep knowledge and understanding of the construction. The first step of this process is a suitable documentation and representation of the cylindrical shape and its towering position. The peculiarity of the object requires the integrated use of current technologies of surveying able to provide a metrically-accurate three-dimensional model. The second step is the critic reading of the technological, typological and material elements that constitutes the constructive apparatus of the building (masonry, ribs, ring-like vault), and the geometric analysis addressed at the virtual reconstruction of the original shape.