Free shipping only in Italy
VILLA ADRIANA. ARCHITETTURA CELESTE. I SEGRETI DEI SOLSTIZI - ITALIAN EDITION ONLY
This book will help you discover a building in Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli (built in the 2nd century AD), which no one knows about, the Accademia, which is still in private property today and has never been open to the public.
The author studied and surveyed it several years ago, so you will be able to see unpublished images of the Temple of Apollo, a vast circular hall of 13 meters in diameter once covered by a dome, which has been seen, drawn and described by some of the greatest artists and architects of the Renaissance: Francesco di Giorgio Martini, Andrea Palladio and Pirro Ligorio, Raphael.
The Accademia stands on the Accademia Esplanade, which was the highest artificial esplanade of the Villa, together with the Roccabruna building, which is in the public area. You will see unpublished photos of the large inner circular hall of Roccabruna, which is always closed to the public, and other inaccessible rooms.
The book explains the astronomical orientation of the two buildings, where luminous phenomena similar to those we all know at Stonehenge in England, Abu Simbel in Egypt or Chichen Itzà in Mexico are seen. It was discovered by the authors, who are the pioneers of Cultural Astronomy of ancient roman building in Italy.
The illuminations - such as the Blade of Light visible on the front cover - are seen on the days of the Summer and Winter solstice.
This discovery allowed us to understand that the Accademia Esplanade was the sacred area of the Villa, its actual Acropolis, the highest and closest to the divinity, and to reconstruct its hidden and mysterious symbolic meaning.
CASTEL SANTANGELO. MAUSOLEUM OF HADRIAN. ARCHITECTURE & LIGHT (English Edition)
This book traces the thousand-year history of Hadrian's Mausoleum—now Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome—and will serve as a guide to discover its most hidden and undiscovered aspects, thanks to splendid photographs.
It was built by Emperor Hadrian as a new dynastic tomb and completed in 139 AD. The burial chamber, known as the Hall of the Urns, was lined with precious marble and contained the Emperor's red porphyry sarcophagus, of which only the lid remains today in St. Peter's Basilica.
The book recounts its rebirth in the Christian era, with the legendary apparition of the Archangel Michael who ended the plague of 590 AD. It withstood sieges by Saracens and barbarians. During the terrible Sack of Rome by the Landsknechts in 1527, the Pope found refuge there thanks to the secret passage of the Passetto.
You will discover the splendor of the papal apartments: over the centuries, each pontiff sought to enrich and expand them, calling upon some of the greatest artists of the Renaissance.
You will read the incredible story of the Pons Aelius, which led to the Mausoleum, and which few know: during the construction of the new embankments of the Lungotevere, the original ramps and even the Roman paving were rediscovered, unfortunately demolished and documented by rare images and drawings from the period that we have recovered.
The Hall of the Burial Urns was illuminated by two large window-tunnels, thanks to which we offer a new and unprecedented reconstruction of the Mausoleum, revealing the hidden symbolic meaning of its extraordinary architecture.
Finally, the book reveals the very essence of Imperial Power, thanks to the illuminations discovered through archaeoastronomy, which were linked to the deified Emperor Hadrian, depicted as Sol Invictus driving the Quadriga of the Sun, thus holding the reins of the Universe.
Also available in English.
You can buy it at ROME in the following bookstores::
Libreria Horafelix - Via Reggio Emilia, 89 Roma (vicino al Museo Macro)
Libreria Cicerone - Largo Chigi, 1A Roma (vicino alla Galleria A. Sordi)
Bookshop del Museo di Castel Sant'Angelo