Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II

We have now come to our first point of interest in this magnificent city: Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II. As you can see, it is lined by 17th century style palazzos with ample porticos.

I will immediately draw your attention to a little known peculiarity of this square. If you walk through the Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II gardens, you will come across a mysterious monument located near the corner of the square adjacent to the church of Saint Eusebius. This monument is a heavily carved marble frame to the sides of which stand two statues. This monument is the main Italian epigraphic testimonial to one of the most ancient sciences: Alchemy. The door in question is the so-called Porta Magica (Magic Door), the entry to the home of the alchemist Massimiliano Palombaro.

The Porta Magica, also known as the Porta Alchemica, Porta Ermetica or Porta dei Cieli (Alchemy Door, Hermetic Door or Door to the Skies) is a monument built between 1655 and 1680 by Massimiliano Palombaro in his home, the Villa Palombara, in a position corresponding to the current Piazza Vittorio, where it is located today.
The Porta Alchemica is the only surviving door of the villa’s original five.

The Porta Magica. According to legend, a pilgrim was given hospitality in the villa for the night. The pilgrim, who can be identified as an alchemist, set himself up in the villa’s gardens for the night to search for a mysterious gold producing herb. The following morning, he was seen disappearing through the door, but he had left behind some flakes of gold resulting from a successful transmutation, and a mysterious paper covered in enigmas and magical symbols that held the secret of the Philosophers’ Stone.
The marquis had the manuscript’s content, with all its symbols and enigmas, carved on the five doors of the Villa Palombara, in the hope that, one day, someone would be able to decipher them. The symbols carved on the door can be found in the illustrations of the books on alchemy and esoteric philosophy that circulated during the second half of the 17th century.
The symbols of some planets, some Latin inscriptions and some mysterious symbols can be made out.
On the door’s front can be seen a Latin carving that translates into: “There are three marvels: God and man, mother and virgin, triune and one.”
On the architrave are carved an invocation in Hebrew (Divine Spirit) and one in Latin (“The dragon Hesperios guards the entrance of the magic garden”).

Along the jambs, we find more Latin inscriptions, with symbols of planets or, according to the alchemists’ symbolism, of metals.

Thus, the door presents a bounty of mysterious symbols and inscriptions. The interesting thing is that, since being carved into the door in 1680, no one has been able to decipher them.
The feeling of magic of this corner has remained a true gem that is, to this day, a city secret for the whole world.

Photo Piazza Vittorio Trofei di Mario 9511-08 by Lalupa is licensed under  public domain