#villa di livia

[paiawon]

villa of livia's garden room fresco, from palazzo massimo

known as ad gallinas albas (of the white hen) because of pliny the elder's tale in his naturalis historia, recounting the myth of livia, newly bethroted to octavian augustus, having a white hen holding a laurel branch in its beak dropped into her lap by an eagle, interpreted as an omen of good fortune.

full view on tiktok

[a-chthonic-icarus]

Frescoes from the Villa of Livia, second half of the 1st century BC, Rome, Museo Nazionale Romano di Palazzo Massimo.

Click photos to see full image.

credit: https://www.milestonerome.com/2018/04/the-painted-garden-from-the-villa-of-livia-for-naturemw/

[eclectic-and-passionate-blog]

A trip to Villa di Livia 🥰

[uncleclaudius]

Some pictures of the visual reconstruction of the Villa of Livia, known in Antiquity as Villa Ad Gallinas Albas (the Villa of White Chickens). It belonged to Augustus' wife Livia Drusilla. According to the story, the eagle once dropped a hen holding a laurel branch in its beak into Livia's lap. At the advice of the soothsayer, the branch was planted, creating a laurel tree garden at the premises while the white hens roamed around to secure the good fortune of her family. Whenever a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty celebrated a Triumph, their laurel wreaths were made from these trees.

The famous statue of Augustus of Prima Porta and wall frescos of a garden are from this villa.

[evita-shelby]

National Anthem

Chapter 10

Cw: mentions of sex (duh) period typical misogyny, some racism and technically a curse

Tag list: @thegreatdragonfruta @zablife @cljordan-imperium @call-sign-shark

Easter 1923

Ever since he was a kid, Jack’s dreamed of owning the world.

His apartment had been good, modern and spacious and perfect for a bachelor. When his ambition decided he needed a wife to complete his success, he looked for a perfect starter house.

One that would be seen as the beginning of his rise, one that would become the steppingstone for his future.

He’d carried Eva over the threshold just as he’d done when he took her to the townhouse he shared with Carrie for Gina’s sake. He had fucked her in every surface of the house, built a marriage that would have everyone doubt this had been an arrangement made in the span of a week.

Their current home was great, perfect for a growing family with a long veranda for the children, a garage that was every middle-class car aficionado’s dream and yet it won’t be long before they leave it too.

Jack never dreams small; he hadn’t known exactly what this dream home would be until he saw Rockwood Hall.

J.D. Rockefeller had made the second largest mansion in all of America, so grand that his own descendants had to sell it after his death. So grand only the Rileys could afford it now that they gained government contracts through his connections.

“We should get one of these.” He says as he takes Rosie in his arms and the boys run off to play with the other children.

Little Jack turns back long enough to hug his mother goodbye and Little Joey is already yelling at the boys he met at the last family gathering. They gather with her family for the big holidays after that fiasco during the first thanksgiving when the twins were born.

They’d spend Easter here, the 4th of July at home, come here for September 16th before the boys start their first day of school –of which he’s taking the day off work because Eva said so--- and miss Florida because Eva was due in November.

Katherine Drusilla Nelson, Duchess of Devonshire and conceived in the most coveted bed in the world on Valentine’s Day. Named for his late elder sister who died of consumption along with Gina and their mother, and for Eva’s aunt, the formidable Olivia Drusilla Riley de Souza.

Livia doesn’t like him, told him to his face and repeated it that first Thanksgiving they hosted in 1919. Thought he was beneath them and unworthy of her favorite niece. But she practically raised Eva because her mother got the baby blues and so he put up with her…enough to have her share his daughter’s name.

“I like the one we rented in Hyannis Port for July 4th last year, Malcom Cottage, was it? Although I am partial to the villa in Florida.” Eva mentions acting as if they had to choose between one. She grew up in several houses, always moving about with the parents or relatives caring for her when she wasn’t in school.

“Why settle for one, when we can have it all?” It’s like when she asked if they could keep the tradition of middle names for their children because the two of them also had middle names, she didn’t even need to ask to know the answer is always yes.

Besides his witch of a wife has never been wrong before, never will be if you ask him.

“About fucking time, I hate telling people you live in the suburbs, that’s so middle class.” Gina said making her dear uncle reprimand her for swearing in front of the children.

“Language, Gina.”

While Rosie struggled with talking, she’d picked up swearing with ease. She learned to say shit from hearing Jack hurt himself in the garage one fucking time.

Their sweet little angel smiled impishly and muttered the word ‘fuck’ as she bit the gold crucifix they got her for Easter.

Well, they were never gonna make angels anyways.

Family gatherings were fine, for the most part. Sure, her aunt would make backhanded remarks towards Jack in her face, while also outright insulting him outright the moment her back was turned, it went well mostly.

It wasn’t because he was American, new money nor a gangster. It was simply because he wasn’t Cornelius Vanderbilt IV, the man Livia had picked out for her like he was a new dress she’d gifted her.

Vanderbilt seemed nice, but he was rather boring. Well, boring in comparison to Jack who then had desecrated a confessional with her and boldly taken her to his place where they planned their future after he made her scream herself hoarse in pleasure.

Had Jack not been so good in bed ---and out of it--- maybe Eva would have been Mrs. Vanderbilt and kept the rebellious Vanderbilt heir from being bankrupt and disinherited from his family.

“I just don’t see what you see in him.” Livia looked at the man as if he were something the cat dragged in as he roughhoused with the boys in the garden. “He’s too full of himself, he has no class, he’s too hairy, his features all look like his face is too big to hold them, what did he have that Cornelius didn’t besides a business degree and a gang?”

Eva always gets this question and she’d just shrug and answer with something equal parts vulgar and the usual ‘I don’t really know’, this time she says the one thing that matters to someone who married for money and influence. “Because he will take us places we never even reached in Mexico, and that sweet little boy named after his father, will be the youngest president this country will have.”

Her aunt is impressed, she had been disappointed thinking Eva was like her mother who married because she saw true love with her father even if he had nothing but a stolen watch to his name.

Eva was not like her mother, she could never be happy with a man who didn’t want more, Jack had ambition and lucky for her, would only ever be hers.

“I suppose I can see something about him now. If he is taking us further than we ever could’ve done at home, I could even call him my nephew. After all people marry into our family, they never marry out of here.” Her red-haired aunt changed her tune exactly like the witch had known it would happen.

Jack is wary of Livia’s sudden acceptance for the rest of the day, utterly stumped at why she’d stop being such a bitch to him. But he enjoys it, loves pushing her buttons to see how long this kindness lasts.

“What did you tell her when you were out on the balcony with her?” he asks when they are finally alone in their luxurious suite complete with a nursery. The boys were having a sleepover with her cousin Francisco’s son across the wing and Rosie had claimed the princess bed in her own room.

Last time they were here, the Nelsons hadn’t been able to enjoy the bed as they had hoped and now wanted to make up for it. And they had since they put the children to bed.

“She asked why I chose you that day and I answered honestly for once.” Eva answered teasing him, toying with the curly hairs on his chest knowing he would guess wrong.

“You told your aunt we defiled a church for our first date?” he asks, taken aback by it. Everyone knew they had obviously fucked while on the maybe ten dates they had. Once they’d been so insatiable for each other they’d snuck off at dinner to fuck in a broom closet.

“God, no, she would’ve killed the two of us.” Eva shook her head. “I told her little Jack Nelson Junior’s going to be president of the united fucking states of America. If she still doesn’t like you after that, Junior might remember it when he’s living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”

“Threatening your auntie for me, Evie. How sweet of you. You deserve a reward.” He is so proud of her and touched by what she did that he adds a spontaneous, “I love you.”

He is not fond of saying it in public, but oh he is as sweet as honey the moment the doors close. Usually, it is her who says it first these days.

“I love you too.” Eva kissed him hoping to show her love in a much more passionate way, but the second Jack gently moved her underneath him they hear Gina’s girlish scream followed by crying and slurs from the blonde girl’s own mouth.

“I told you we shouldn’t have brought her.” Jack groaned and both rushed to find their clothes. “I’m putting her on the next train to Manhattan, let her mother deal with her for the rest of Easter.”

It is uncharitable to say, but if one of the girls hit nineteen-year-old Gina, she likely deserved it. Her time at university had actually made her worse, the only people to blame are the sorority she joined and herself. Unfortunately, she was expelled for her shitty behavior and won’t be going back next week.

They are in New York when they see Shelby again.

He is here to ensure the custody of his son whom the world will believe was Clive’s because Grace wanted to keep her dignity. Jack was here for business matters relating to the will since little Charlie would inherit a portion of Jack’s companies.

“She is cursed, you know.” Eva speaks quietly in rromani so Grace nor Jack know what is being said as she tries to argue for her son’s inheritance. “Even my husband can smell the death on her skin like perfume.”

“If I don’t marry her my son will not be mine.” He admits. There was regret in his voice, a look that said that the Grace he loved was not the woman he is getting to know.

The real Grace wants to be accepted by the class that hates people like Eva, Tommy and even Jack. The real Grace feels no guilt because her happiness is what comes first always. The real Grace is not the persona she crafted in 1919 to get his attention.

But it was too late now.

“She won’t live to see his third birthday, if you marry her, you will go mad with her death knowing Polly Gray’s curse came true because of you.” The witch warns him, as much as she hates Grace for breathing she doesn’t want the blonde dead.

“Your husband wants her gone from America even if it kills her.” he points out.

Jack wants her dead for what she did to Clive, for what she did to their IRA contacts and because she is just as phony as the rest of her ilk.

“If a woman drove your friend to suicide for a man in love with a mirage of her, you would hate her too.” Eva replied honestly making Shelby wince.

“You witches think you know everything, don’t you?” he deflects thinking he can fool her like he fools Grace.

“That’s because we do. Come February of next year and you will be burying her as Mrs. Shelby and yourself as the fool who killed her. If you let her and the boy go, she will hate you but live to raise her son and see her grandchildren. Do you love her enough to let her go once and for all?”

Grace leaves the lawyer’s offices with the threat of having Charlie MacMillan’s true paternity exposed on every tabloid here and across the pond if she marries Tommy Shelby because even Jack doesn’t want her blood on his hands. She can have respectability and life, or death and infamy attached to the Caron and Burgess names the second she becomes Mrs. Shelby.

And yet that same summer they receive an invitation from Grace for their wedding in January of 1924 at Arrow House, the estate she doesn’t know he bought with May in mind. Her family will not even stick around for the funeral out of the shame she brought them.

In the end, Grace dies because she refused to move on from Thomas Shelby no matter how hard he tried to drive her away.

[celine-t-r]

Affreschi del ninfeo sotterraneo della villa di Livia, Palazzo Massimo, Rome

[quodnonnecatemunit]

Palazzo Massimo - Rome Inspired by the magnificent palaces of the 16th century, Palazzo Massimo was built between 1883 and 1887 by the Jesuit priest Massimiliano Massimo, based on a design by Camillo Pistrucci, to house the new Jesuit school. In 1981, the Palazzo was acquired by the Italian Government to become one of the new sites for the National Roman Museum. A radical renovation of the building was entrusted to Costantino Dardi and the Palazzo opened to the public in 1998. Since then, the original installation has been revised and adjusted on a number of occasions, interweaving the various threads of the exhibition using a design based on chronology and theme. By referring to the contexts in which the artefacts were found, this creates the suggestion that different works are jumbled together as in the bustling collections of the 16th century. Now, moving through the rooms of the Palazzo Massimo is like leafing through the pages of a wonderful book. Its four floors contain some of the greatest masterpieces of the entire artistic output of the Roman world: sculptures, reliefs, frescos, mosaics, stuccoes and sarcophagi, originating, like all of the treasures of the National Roman Museum, from excavations undertaken in Rome and the surrounding region from 1870 onwards. The route of the visit begins with the theme of the portrait and its evolution, from exclusive use by the most illustrious citizens in the Archaic Period to the widespread use of portraits among freedmen, from portraits of Greek origin, such as those of Alexander the Great, to those of simple Roman citizens eager for self-celebration at the end of the Republic, like the Tivoli General, and new forms of portraiture linked to the birth of the Empire, such as Augustus dressed as the Pontifex Maximus. Greek originals in marble, such as the Niobid from the Horti Sallustiani (Gardens of Sallust), and in bronze, including the Boxer at Rest and the Hellenistic Prince from the Baths of Constantine, are typical examples of the models of Greek art that came to Rome with the wars of conquest. Continuing the history of portraits in the Imperial Age, the first floor displays the Roman taste for reworkings and copies of ideal sculptures, like the Discobolus of Myron, presented in two well-known reproductions – the Lancellotti Discobolus and the Discobolus of Castel Porziano -, the Sleeping Hermaphroditus, the Aphrodite of Menophantos, and innumerable works depicting gods and mythological figures. However, sculpture also became a means of expression for celebrating victories at the borders of the Empire, such as the monumental Portonaccio sarcophagus, and a method for paying tribute to the greatness of well-known figures in the society of the late Roman Empire, as can be seen from the Acilia and Annona Sarcophagi. The second floor of the Palazzo is dedicated entirely to frescos, stuccoes and mosaics. One element that is fundamental in fully grasping the taste and aesthetic sense of the Roman aristocracy is the superb wall decorations of major archaeological complexes, such as the Villa di Livia in Prima Porta, the Villa Farnesina in Trastevere and the Villa di Termini. The basement level offers a selection from the collections from the National Roman Museum’s Coin and Medal Collection and is dedicated to the economy and the use of money, interpreted through an exhibition of coins, jewellery, precious ornaments and documents relating to the daily cost of life.

[abridurif]

Villa di Livia, Palazzo Massimo, Roma

[steliosagapitos]

          The Garden Room Fresco at the Villa di Livia, Rome. Painted c. 30-20 BC. Photo by  Marco Mansi.

[faccaldo]

3 dicembre

Villa di Livia Drusilla

[exclusiveaccommodationrome]

Il Mausoleo di Augusto

Roma si sa, è piena di sorprese e di meraviglie nascoste, ma tra le tante testimonianze storiche, una sicuramente da non perdere è il Mausoleo di Augusto.

Questo Mausoleo venne costruito da Augusto stesso nel 28 a.C. al suo ritorno dalla campagna militare in Egitto dopo la vittoria di Anzio del 31 a.C. e la sottomissione di Cleopatra e Marco Antonio.

Fu proprio in quest’occasione che il grande Ottaviano Augusto ebbe modo di vedere la tomba in stile ellenistico di Alessandro Magno, da cui trasse ispirazione per la costruzione del proprio mausoleo. Esso, con il suo diametro di 300 piedi romani – circa 87 metri, – è il più grande sepolcro circolare che si conosca. Era composto da un corpo cilindrico rivestito in blocchi di travertino, al centro del quale si apriva a sud una porta preceduta da una breve scalinata; in prossimità dell’ingresso, forse adagiate su dei pilastri, erano collocate le tavole di bronzo con incise le “Res Gestae divi Augusti”, ovvero “Le Imprese del Divino Augusto”, un resoconto redatto dallo stesso imperatore prima della sua morte, riguardo le opere che compì durante la sua lunga carriera politica.

Su di un basamento alto circa 12 m si elevava un secondo ordine architettonico coronato da una trabeazione dorica, e una statua di Augusto in bronzo dorato, probabilmente l’originale bronzeo della statua in marmo rinvenuta nella Villa di Livia a Prima Porta.

Nell’area antistante, erano collocati due obelischi di granito. Attraverso invece un lungo corridoio d’accesso, il dromos, si giungeva alla cella sepolcrale, di forma circolare, con tre nicchie rettangolari dove erano collocate le urne che ospitavano le ceneri di Ottavia, sorella dell’imperatore e di suo figlio Marcello, successore designato di Augusto prematuramente morto nel 23 a.C. Augusto venne sepolto nell’ambiente ricavato all’interno del nucleo cilindrico centrale.

All’interno del sepolcro vennero deposte altre ceneri dei membri della famiglia imperiale.

Dopo essere stato abbandonato e saccheggiato in epoca medievale, il mausoleo subì numerose trasformazioni e fu usato come fortezza, giardino, anfiteatro e, agli inizi del Novecento, persino come sala da concerto.

Negli anni 1936-1938 con la demolizione del quartiere circostante e la realizzazione di Piazza Augusto Imperatore, il monumento fu restaurato e riportato all’aspetto originario.

Dopo oltre settant’anni il Mausoleo riapre al pubblico con un’opera di restauro che valorizza non solo il monumento ma l’intera piazza adiacente, per rendere nuovamente questo luogo un incontro tra passato e presente, che fa di Roma una tra le città più belle al mondo, e unica nel suo genere.

Per visitare questo importante Mausoleo basta soggiornare in una delle nostre camere economiche! Si trovano nel centro storico di Roma, e da lì vi basterà passeggiare per raggiungere tutti i siti più noti e meno noti della città. Visitate i nostri siti per un soggiorno a Roma da non dimenticare!

Ti aspettiamo!

[jacopocioni]

Per chi abita in… Via Suor Maria Celeste (Virginia Galilei)

Galileo Galilei non si sposò mai, ma ebbe una lunghissima relazione con una donna veneziana, Marina Gamba, che lo rese padre di ben tre figli, due femmine ed un maschio, Virginia, Livia e Vincenzio. Una relazione molto stravagante, per l’epoca, sicuramente mal vista dai benpensanti. Marina e Galileo vissero insieme soltanto dopo la nascita del terzo figlio. Virginia, la primogenita, nacque il 12 agosto del 1600 e, nel giorno della nascita, suo padre stese per lei un oroscopo, nel quale delineò i tratti del carattere della figlia e gli influssi dei pianeti che ne avrebbero segnato lo sviluppo. Galileo, che di oroscopi si occupava in modo professionale, tracciò un ritratto della figlia che si rivelò molto veritiero. La definì piena di zelo, sensibile e devota a Dio. Virginia arrivò a Firenze assieme alla nonna, la madre di Galileo, il quale la raggiunse nel 1610, trasferendosi a Firenze in qualità di “matematico del Granduca”.

Suor Maria Celeste Galileo ottenne che Virginia venisse accolta nel convento delle Clarisse di San Matteo in Arcetri, nel 1613; tre anni più tardi Virginia, a soli sedici anni, prese i voti come monaca di clausura, assumendo il nome di Suor Maria Celeste. Del resto, per una donna, le alternative che si ponevano erano soltanto due: il matrimonio o il velo.

Galileo, sempre indebitato fino al collo, non poteva permettersi di costituire una dote per le figlie, e ripiegò quindi sull’alternativa “a buon prezzo”. Infatti, le suore di San Matteo in Arcetri appartenevano all’ordine delle Clarisse, fondato sulle regole francescane, improntate alla povertà; per entrare in questo convento la dote richiesta era molto più bassa rispetto a quella richiesta in altri conventi cittadini.

Suor Arcangela Livia, la secondogenita, prese i voti nello stesso convento l’anno successivo, con il nome di Suor Arcangela. Galileo viveva nella Villa il Gioiello, al Pian dei Giullari, e dalla sua residenza poteva godere di una vista sul convento in cui vivevano le figlie. L’uomo rimase profondamente legato alla figlia Virginia e tra loro vi fu un intenso scambio epistolare. Virginia nutriva un profondo affetto per il padre ed aveva accettato la vita che le era stata imposta, a differenza della sorella. Donna profondamente intelligente, ben presto Virginia divenne un punto di riferimento per le consorelle, ma anche per il padre, di cui si prendeva cura in molti modi, pur se da lontano (non dimentichiamo che era una suora di clausura). Faceva avere al padre delle preparazioni speziali, di cui era esperta, lo riforniva di dolci e frutti, cuciva per lui i colletti e gli rammendava gli abiti, e si offriva anche di fargli da segretaria, copiando per lui le lettere indirizzate a terze persone. Galileo ricambiava l’affetto della figlia prestandosi a riparazioni di orologeria, piuttosto che, quando poteva, inviando del denaro al convento o, dopo la vendemmia, facendo avere a sua figlia il vino di sua produzione.

Suor Maria Celeste morì giovane, a soli trentatrè anni; Galileo soffrì molto di questa morte improvvisa, tanto forte fu il dolore da procurargli dei dissesti fisici, dai quali non si riprese mai più. Le parole che Galileo confidò ad un amico dopo la morte di Virginia furono “donna di esquisito ingegno, singolar bontà et a me affezzionatissima… in sei giorni si morì essendo in età di trentatre anni, lasciando me in una estrema afflizione”. Di Suor Maria Celeste rimangono 124 lettere scritte al padre, mentre non c’è traccia alcuna delle lettere di Galileo alla figlia, probabilmente distrutte dalla madre superiora alla morte di Virginia, data la difficile condizione di Galileo, considerato eretico. Dalle lettere di Virginia traspare l’amore che questa donna ha per quel padre che pure le ha riservato un destino non facile. Le lettere di Suor Maria Celeste raccontano la storia di Galileo, dagli inizi fino alla fama che gli fu data dall’invenzione del cannocchiale, per proseguire poi nel momento difficile del processo e negli anni della prigione. In tutte queste vicissitudini, la figlia lo consola, gli scrive parlandogli della quotidianità, per distrarlo dalle angosce della sua condizione. Quando, nel 1737, la salma di Galileo venne trasferita in Santa Croce, si scoprì che sotto il feretro dell’astronomo c’era una seconda bara, dove riposavano le spoglie di Suor Maria Celeste. Un amore padre figlia sopravvissuto alla morte.

Gabriella Bazzani Read the full article

[eclectic-and-passionate-blog]

Winter musk ❤️

[heaveninawildflower]

Frescos from Villa di Livia, Prima Porta, Italy (circa, 20 BCE)

Photographer -   Miguel Hermoso Cuesta.

Wikimedia. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

[evaisinsidehercat]

Palazzo Massimo alle Terme Rome / Frescoes Villa di Livia

[vforvileda]

Per Campania Bus