Space can be understood not merely as a simple container but as an active component of human actions. Humans modify and alter the landscape they inhabit by adding new elements, often imbuing it with meanings and values. From this perspective, analyzing how ancient spaces were perceived allows us to observe landscapes from a different viewpoint. The combination of the study of space perception with 3D reconstruction can provide new insights into the study of perception, using three-dimensional modeling not only as the end goal of research but as a tool to understand the ancient world. The reconstruction of contexts, especially architectures, enables us to observe various elements in their original complexity, which often escapes simple observation of archaeological remains.

The analysis of perception becomes particularly relevant when applied in an urban context. Buildings in cities generally follow some pre-established organization, especially in the case of squares, streets, and all places of gathering and interaction, where structures are built to be seen. For this reason, buildings are often placed in public spaces following a spatial connection, defining the so-called connective architecture, expressed primarily through a series of references, correspondences, and visual relationships. For instance, in ancient architecture, visibility was a fundamental characteristic, motivating the pursuit of grandeur and monumentality. In public areas like fora, there was a precise intention to emphasize certain nodes and to showcase through references and separations the various civil and sacred realms.

A case study to analyze these aspects has been the forum of Roselle, a city in central Etruria. The public area of Roselle constitutes one of the most extensively investigated fora archaeologically in Etruria, alongside cases like Cosa and Luni, and the only one among them to have revealed a continuity of life in the public square from the 6th century BC to the imperial age. Through the study of archive data and the architecture of individual structures, it has been possible to virtually reconstruct a significant portion of the buildings in the imperial-age square with a good degree of reliability. The Forum of Roselle is particularly interesting because it is the result of a long process of monumentalization, continuing from the Etruscan era to the Flavian age: buildings are gradually added, not adhering to a unified original plan.

However, the 3D reconstruction of the square in the Flavian age has allowed observation of how the older buildings are integrated into the new structure of the square and how, through a series of visual connections, they assume new meanings, either enhancing or concealing them. Through the creation of renderings that could reproduce human vision, it has been possible to observe the impact the square had on the citizen and consider the visual techniques used to surprise and captivate the observer. Reconstructing architectures has allowed the context to come to life and partially recreate the ancient perception of the place.