Most manuscript libraries and archives contain palimpsests, which are manuscripts or fragments of reused parchment. For economical reasons older texts were sacrificed by scraping or washing them off, and the material thus regained was covered with new writing. There are some cases where parchment was rewritten twice (resulting in a so-called codex bis rescriptus). The lower layer of writing is frequently erased to a point where it is hardly, if at all, visible to the human eye. The book culture of the ancient and medieval Greek world counts several hundred preserved palimpsest units.

Partners (universities, libraries, academies, research centres, foundations) from all member states of the European Union (including EEA/EFTA) as well as from eight of the Central and Eastern European Countries worked together making use of recent developments in multispectral digital imaging technology coupled with computer based elaboration.

The Rinascimento virtuale project comprised four areas of activity: The creation of a systematical checklist and select studies of Greek palimpsests extant in Europe; digitisation, elaboration and electronic archiving of selected palimpsests; education and training in the various areas of expertise converging in this project; dissemination and publication of achievements.

Results have helped to enhance the scholars knowledge of ancient and medieval (secular and Christian) texts, to promote the use of advanced technology for the study of palimpsested (as well as otherwise damaged) manuscripts and fragments, and to provide new insights on the overall cultural context of manuscript palimpsestation in the Greek and Byzantine world to researchers and the interested public alike.