Abstract

This work shows unpublished geometric and metric information of the cave of the Ambrogiana Medici Villa (Montelupo Fiorentino, FI) obtained by three-dimensional (3D) survey technology. This data was correlated with the acquired images and graphic archival documentation to contextualize and document the original cave, the only artificial cave built in the Medici gardens with direct access from the Arno. It is not yet accessible and studied as a whole due to the historical modifications of the Villa. In the second half of the 19th century, the Villa was transformed into a mental hospital and subsequently into a judicial psychiatric hospital, a destination abandoned in June 2017. The reconversion into a judicial psychiatric hospital led to improper and degrading use of the building, gardens, and artificial cave, now in a severe state of decay and at the centre of an important national redevelopment project