Browsing Tag »Rome«

In the city of simple herbs, with Hildegard and Avicenna

October 18, 2009

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In Medieval Latin the word “medicamentum simplex” was a single herb used as a medicament while several herbs used together were called a “medicamentum compositum. “ From this  Medieval abbeys gardens and later universities gardens where herbs were cultivated for study and medical use were called “Hortus Simplicium“, gardens of simple (medicaments).

Argoli, the fox and the internet

May 31, 2009

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Traditional astro-lists in the net are a precious source of  knowledge (and friendship), and I’d like to mention two different threads worthy to inquire about and mix a little how I like to do very often. The first one appeared in The Real Astrology and it was about an Italian translation of two important works of [...]

The foundation horoscope of Rome

April 26, 2009

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PUBLISHED IN LINGUAGGIO ASTRALE N. 150 - SPRING 2008 In these days we are celebrating the birthday of Rome, which according the tradition was founded by Romulus on the 21st April  753 bC. This tradition is very old and  derives from the city’s birthchart. Still everything is not so easy as it seems.

The alchemical Door

February 28, 2009

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In the very centre of Rome, in the middle of the gardens of Piazza Vittorio there is a strange stone door called “Alchemical door” or “Magical door.” The door was the entrance of the Villa built by the Marquis Massimiliano Palombara around 1660. Inside his villa Palombara was dedited to occult studies and involved in alchemical studies [...]

the astrological ceiling of Villa Farnesina in Rome

January 15, 2009

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This is the transcript of the lecture kept in Rome by me and Anton Grigoryev (who wrote the article with me) for the Congress/Competition  of October 2006 organized by CIDA, the Italian Astrological Association . The Italian text has been published in the Winter 2006 issue of Linguaggio Astrale, the journal of the Italian Association. Some [...]

The first day of the year

January 1, 2009

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The legend says that  Numa Pompilius, the successor of Romulus,  in his reform of the Calendar added two months to the  Roman calendar, and fixed the beginning of the year at the first day of the month dedicated to Janus, the God of the doors – janua in Latin, from yana (road) in Sanskrit. [...]

Love in Renaissance Rome

December 8, 2008

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This morning, as every year, I visited the traditional  Christmas books’ exhibition and I had the opportunity to attend a lecture about the star crossed love between Raffaello Sanzio, the famous painter and the beautiful Fornarina, made immortal by one of his paintings. Who was that woman is not clear but many say she was Agostino [...]

The celestial vault of Alessandro Farnese

September 8, 2008

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Haec, Auguste, tamen, quae vertice sidera pulsat, par domus est caelo sed minor est domino. Augustus, this Dome whose vault touches the stars and is so similar to the sky, nevertheless is inferior to his Lord. (Martial, Ephigrams VIII, 36) A BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION When I wrote my thesis about “manifestations of luxury in Renaissance Italian buildings” some years [...]