It took over 400,000 high-resolution images and an enormous amount of data, equivalent to 22 petabytes—around 5 million DVDs—to complete the digital twin of St. Peter's Basilica. The project, titled "San Pietro: AI-Enhanced Experience," was born two years ago from a meeting between Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, head of the Fabbrica di San Pietro, and Brad Smith, Vice Chairman and President of Microsoft.

For three weeks, every evening after the Basilica closed to the public, drones equipped with laser scanners flew over the site, capturing 400,000 ultra-precise images. These data allowed artificial intelligence to reconstruct an extremely detailed 3D model.