I want to reveal a little secret to you
when I was a child a few years ago
I spent the summers in the sea
wonderful marinello nature reserve
which rises right below the site
archaeological of tindari in one
family encyclopedia I had seen
of the beautiful images of one
shell was very large and had one
round shape well passed
a lot of time at the beach to look for this
with those who have in fact until a few years ago
the marine reserve and then really
rich in shells of all this
my mom was obviously worried
because differently from others
children did not play at the beach a
balloon or to build sand castles
but I was looking for seahorses and
special shells the shell that
I was looking for the nautilus a kind of
cephalopod molluscs classified as
living fossil
unfortunately I never found this kind
of shell because these shells
they are widespread in the open sea and they live
in the Pacific c1 and in the Indian ocean
these shells are special because
in them it is possible to observe the
so-called logarithmic spiral now from
microcosm at the macrocosm everything seems
respond to laws of harmony and
perfection and the spiral is one of the
recurring forms we find in the
molluscs in snails of snails
of the horns of some animals in the bottom
of fins and pineapples
but we still find it in the forms of the
cyclones in the galaxies in the structure
of our ear and in our own
dna this great love for nature me
brought from big to become one
astrophysical but at the same time since
boy I cultivated a great passion
for cultural heritage and for the world
ancient
then imagine my amazement mine
great wonder
when a decade ago during
an excursion on the scenes of a saint
venerates in the territory of bronte today
re-entering the Etna Park
I found myself in front of one of the monuments
prehistoric most singular ed
fascinating of all Sicily
the so-called megalithic spiral of
flounces above nor a single monument
formed by tall lava stone blocks
up to a meter and seventy that go to
constitute a real spiral e
that have been semi-finished so that
they perfectly matched one with
the other the form of the monument is
showily spiraled and presents a
corridor leading to the center of the
monument itself but what struck me
the angle of entry was the orientation
of the monument is special and on the corner and
very close to that of the sun when
the orientation is set for the equinoxes
west allowed to propose as in
effects the value of the structure is
punctual and not funerary with the discovery
of this spiral begins in fact
officially my career of bows
astronomer and harchi astronomy was
very important for this monument
so much so that in 2017 the superintendency of
catania has placed the archaeological bond
on the monument
but what is archaeoastronomy is the
science of stones and stars
studies the orientation of ancient buildings
in relation to celestial phenomena we speak
even more recently than astronomy
cultural to understand the science that
more generally, he studies the relationship between
the man the architecture and the sky
in antiquity, study orientation
of ancient buildings is very important
to understand how the observation of the
sky has been very useful for all
society of the past
the founding father of this science
multidisciplinary is the authoritative being
standard locker great astronomer e
British mathematician who lived a
horse between nineteenth and twentieth century and that
he founded and was editor for over 50 years
of the well-known nature’s locker magazine
study the orientation of numerous
Anglo-Saxon cromlech like the famous one
of strange in the dorset
but also of many temples in egypt
that of karnak that has an axis
oriented towards the winter solstice
and interesting to observe as many of
these places are already heritage
of humanity such as the mound
of new grunge in ireland the famous grave
with corridor oriented towards the dawn of the
winter solstice but we find again
structure oriented worldwide in
every civilization
just think of the Inca in Peru
machu pichu toweron of windows
2 one oriented towards the solstice
in the summertime
the other towards the rising from the
constellation of the sacred scorpion for
the link or the Khmer civilization in
cambodia and look at this picture the
sun is positioned at the top of the tower
central of the temple of angkor vat
on the day of the spring equinox
but in Sicily there are movements
oriented our ancestors practiced
look at the sky
the answer is yes at about six years me
I deal with archaeoastronomy in Sicily and
there are now many places involved
in this research I have chosen for you
four places to show you and this
short journey starts from the valley of the
temples one of the most important research
conducted so far in 2015
together with two colleagues from the Polytechnic
of Milan and the University of Waikato
in new zealand it covered the study
of the orientation of the times
of Agrigento and already from the images
satellite
we had noticed that some of these
times have a lot of orientation
special their axis directed towards the
point where the sun rises at the equinoxes
therefore the so-called azimuth is about 90
degrees thanks to the collaboration with the
Archaeological Park of the Valley of the Gods
temples I could observe the dawn of the
sun at the spring quinice
from within the temple of concord
verifying that even today it is possible
admire one of the most fascinating
Hierophany of the Mediterranean and Romania is
a word coined by the historian of the
religions mircea eliade means
manifestations of the sacred through the
light this image highlights how
orient the temples towards details
points of the horizon like that
eastern and western were one
practice widely diffused in the epoch
Greek being very useful for the
agricultural and religious practices
each of the ten temples of Agrigento is
been accurately measured through
the use of a theodolite with one
summer campaign lasting around
ten days
all ten temples of Agrigento
they have a solar orientation except one
what is in almost position
isolated on the atenea cliff is the
so-called temple c on the ruins of
this temple in the Norman era was
built the church of san biagio
this temple has a lunar orientation
and for this it was proposed to
call it temple of artemide news has
done a little bit around the world being
been published by several newspapers both
national level that international
like discovery news but let’s move on
now from agrigento to cefalù where yes
find another very interesting place
in this design
the temple of diana and illustrated
through the beauty of the drawings
precisely by Jean Houel and 700 on the fortress
of cefalù there is another temple
oriented a splendid architecture of
Greek era built with stones
megalithic that encloses within it
a cistern of the indigenous era then
older then the azimuth
the orientation of the entrance is special
the azimuth of around 270 degrees then
the entrance is oriented towards the point
where the sun sets
at the equinoxes now up to the middle of the
last century from within the temple yes
he could look at the sea then
watch the setting sun goes in
alignment with the axis of the temple ma
unfortunately sixty years ago
a small pinetin was implanted
all around the temple and therefore today
it is no longer possible to observe this
so we have a magnificent hierophany
created a video that you can also see
on the net that shows the moment when the
sun sets in alignment with
the entrance to the megalithic temple
let’s move now on the east coast a
priolo gargallo and here as in the case of
Soprana flounces we find one of the
most interesting monuments a great one
settlement
this is thapsos thapsos is a
settlement that rises between the gulfs of
augusta and siracusa and is connected to
mainland from a narrow sandy isthmus
the north horizon is dominated by the bulk
of the Etna volcano in this settlement
in the middle bronze we speak of the
second millennium
born a culture called precisely of
thapsos that follows that of castellucci
the site is little known because it does not
valued and protected as necessary
that until a few years ago
the site was
used as a landfill of pyrite ashes
from the adjacent petrochemical pole
however, last year we have
realized an important project that has
concerning the orientation of the entrances
of the tombs of the necropolis
rock the black squares you see in
this map is nothing but i
wells of the tombs dug into the
rock
we found two types of orientation
one of an astronomical type with some
privileged directions for entries
for example that of dawn to
summer solstice was the second instead
is that of topographic type there are
some tombs that have direct entrances
North
just where the Etna volcano rises
this study is of great interest
scientific and opens up new scenarios of
research since until today it had been
hypothesized that during the Bronze Age
the cultural tradition had been lost
to build rock necropolis with
well-shaped cockpit tombs
astronomically and the last place e
I want to show you lavish musk
so let’s move north to the
Tyrrhenian coast
here is one of the places where you can
really touch the
grandeur of nature that yes
manifests through large rocks and a
breathtaking scenery is a place of one
extraordinary beauty where they are
stones characterized by zoomorphic shapes
and anthropomorphic like stone
of the eagle or the lion’s passage where it is
can observe the profile of the priest or
again an orrogynous profile to the person praying
about 25 meters high that seems to have the
hands folded and looking to the north where
it is located in the Aeolian archipelago
from the plateau of the Argimusco it is
You can watch all four of them
horizons
and practice what is called
the astronomy of horizons the horizon
Oriental is special because it is equipped with
a unique relief the roccasalva head that
rises to dominion of the medieval village of
Novara of Sicily
and then the plateau joined to the fortress
form the so-called sacred landscape from
some points of the plateau the cliff
water and the tower is possible
observe in the next days to
equinox the phenomenon of the rising sun
on the fortress
this was very useful
in antiquity to man to create a
real astronomical calendar
useful for example to understand
the alternation of the seasons , Sicily
really a very lucky land to
have many places on the border between heaven
and land places where in some way i
our ancestors have given us one
know atavistic and today more than ever
this knowledge must be protected and
valued properly in other countries less
lucky of us as the United States
of america
man has sought and seeks a bond
ancestral and one of the most examples
curious and certainly manhattan angie
phenomenon also known as the solstice of
manhattan where the sun sets in
alignment with the roads that
through the famous district of new
york in the east west direction is possible
observe this phenomenon at sunset in
two dates close to time level al
summer solstice but it is possible
observe it also from the opposite direction
then at dawn on two dates close to
winter solstice nature beauty
vitality and all this which is found
in places on the border between heaven and earth
of our land of our Sicily
a small continent that holds gods
real treasures yet to be discovered
somehow I think all that
that I told you it can be
summarize in a sentence too
left as a legacy by the great monk
cistercense bernardo of chiaravalle that
in the twelfth century
he wrote this well-aware thought
of the wise strength of nature
you will find more in the woods than in the books
the trees and the stones will teach you
what can not learn from the masters
[Applause]
when I was a child a few years ago
I spent the summers in the sea
wonderful marinello nature reserve
which rises right below the site
archaeological of tindari in one
family encyclopedia I had seen
of the beautiful images of one
shell was very large and had one
round shape well passed
a lot of time at the beach to look for this
with those who have in fact until a few years ago
the marine reserve and then really
rich in shells of all this
my mom was obviously worried
because differently from others
children did not play at the beach a
balloon or to build sand castles
but I was looking for seahorses and
special shells the shell that
I was looking for the nautilus a kind of
cephalopod molluscs classified as
living fossil
unfortunately I never found this kind
of shell because these shells
they are widespread in the open sea and they live
in the Pacific c1 and in the Indian ocean
these shells are special because
in them it is possible to observe the
so-called logarithmic spiral now from
microcosm at the macrocosm everything seems
respond to laws of harmony and
perfection and the spiral is one of the
recurring forms we find in the
molluscs in snails of snails
of the horns of some animals in the bottom
of fins and pineapples
but we still find it in the forms of the
cyclones in the galaxies in the structure
of our ear and in our own
dna this great love for nature me
brought from big to become one
astrophysical but at the same time since
boy I cultivated a great passion
for cultural heritage and for the world
ancient
then imagine my amazement mine
great wonder
when a decade ago during
an excursion on the scenes of a saint
venerates in the territory of bronte today
re-entering the Etna Park
I found myself in front of one of the monuments
prehistoric most singular ed
fascinating of all Sicily
the so-called megalithic spiral of
flounces above nor a single monument
formed by tall lava stone blocks
up to a meter and seventy that go to
constitute a real spiral e
that have been semi-finished so that
they perfectly matched one with
the other the form of the monument is
showily spiraled and presents a
corridor leading to the center of the
monument itself but what struck me
the angle of entry was the orientation
of the monument is special and on the corner and
very close to that of the sun when
the orientation is set for the equinoxes
west allowed to propose as in
effects the value of the structure is
punctual and not funerary with the discovery
of this spiral begins in fact
officially my career of bows
astronomer and harchi astronomy was
very important for this monument
so much so that in 2017 the superintendency of
catania has placed the archaeological bond
on the monument
but what is archaeoastronomy is the
science of stones and stars
studies the orientation of ancient buildings
in relation to celestial phenomena we speak
even more recently than astronomy
cultural to understand the science that
more generally, he studies the relationship between
the man the architecture and the sky
in antiquity, study orientation
of ancient buildings is very important
to understand how the observation of the
sky has been very useful for all
society of the past
the founding father of this science
multidisciplinary is the authoritative being
standard locker great astronomer e
British mathematician who lived a
horse between nineteenth and twentieth century and that
he founded and was editor for over 50 years
of the well-known nature’s locker magazine
study the orientation of numerous
Anglo-Saxon cromlech like the famous one
of strange in the dorset
but also of many temples in egypt
that of karnak that has an axis
oriented towards the winter solstice
and interesting to observe as many of
these places are already heritage
of humanity such as the mound
of new grunge in ireland the famous grave
with corridor oriented towards the dawn of the
winter solstice but we find again
structure oriented worldwide in
every civilization
just think of the Inca in Peru
machu pichu toweron of windows
2 one oriented towards the solstice
in the summertime
the other towards the rising from the
constellation of the sacred scorpion for
the link or the Khmer civilization in
cambodia and look at this picture the
sun is positioned at the top of the tower
central of the temple of angkor vat
on the day of the spring equinox
but in Sicily there are movements
oriented our ancestors practiced
look at the sky
the answer is yes at about six years me
I deal with archaeoastronomy in Sicily and
there are now many places involved
in this research I have chosen for you
four places to show you and this
short journey starts from the valley of the
temples one of the most important research
conducted so far in 2015
together with two colleagues from the Polytechnic
of Milan and the University of Waikato
in new zealand it covered the study
of the orientation of the times
of Agrigento and already from the images
satellite
we had noticed that some of these
times have a lot of orientation
special their axis directed towards the
point where the sun rises at the equinoxes
therefore the so-called azimuth is about 90
degrees thanks to the collaboration with the
Archaeological Park of the Valley of the Gods
temples I could observe the dawn of the
sun at the spring quinice
from within the temple of concord
verifying that even today it is possible
admire one of the most fascinating
Hierophany of the Mediterranean and Romania is
a word coined by the historian of the
religions mircea eliade means
manifestations of the sacred through the
light this image highlights how
orient the temples towards details
points of the horizon like that
eastern and western were one
practice widely diffused in the epoch
Greek being very useful for the
agricultural and religious practices
each of the ten temples of Agrigento is
been accurately measured through
the use of a theodolite with one
summer campaign lasting around
ten days
all ten temples of Agrigento
they have a solar orientation except one
what is in almost position
isolated on the atenea cliff is the
so-called temple c on the ruins of
this temple in the Norman era was
built the church of san biagio
this temple has a lunar orientation
and for this it was proposed to
call it temple of artemide news has
done a little bit around the world being
been published by several newspapers both
national level that international
like discovery news but let’s move on
now from agrigento to cefalù where yes
find another very interesting place
in this design
the temple of diana and illustrated
through the beauty of the drawings
precisely by Jean Houel and 700 on the fortress
of cefalù there is another temple
oriented a splendid architecture of
Greek era built with stones
megalithic that encloses within it
a cistern of the indigenous era then
older then the azimuth
the orientation of the entrance is special
the azimuth of around 270 degrees then
the entrance is oriented towards the point
where the sun sets
at the equinoxes now up to the middle of the
last century from within the temple yes
he could look at the sea then
watch the setting sun goes in
alignment with the axis of the temple ma
unfortunately sixty years ago
a small pinetin was implanted
all around the temple and therefore today
it is no longer possible to observe this
so we have a magnificent hierophany
created a video that you can also see
on the net that shows the moment when the
sun sets in alignment with
the entrance to the megalithic temple
let’s move now on the east coast a
priolo gargallo and here as in the case of
Soprana flounces we find one of the
most interesting monuments a great one
settlement
this is thapsos thapsos is a
settlement that rises between the gulfs of
augusta and siracusa and is connected to
mainland from a narrow sandy isthmus
the north horizon is dominated by the bulk
of the Etna volcano in this settlement
in the middle bronze we speak of the
second millennium
born a culture called precisely of
thapsos that follows that of castellucci
the site is little known because it does not
valued and protected as necessary
that until a few years ago
the site was
used as a landfill of pyrite ashes
from the adjacent petrochemical pole
however, last year we have
realized an important project that has
concerning the orientation of the entrances
of the tombs of the necropolis
rock the black squares you see in
this map is nothing but i
wells of the tombs dug into the
rock
we found two types of orientation
one of an astronomical type with some
privileged directions for entries
for example that of dawn to
summer solstice was the second instead
is that of topographic type there are
some tombs that have direct entrances
North
just where the Etna volcano rises
this study is of great interest
scientific and opens up new scenarios of
research since until today it had been
hypothesized that during the Bronze Age
the cultural tradition had been lost
to build rock necropolis with
well-shaped cockpit tombs
astronomically and the last place e
I want to show you lavish musk
so let’s move north to the
Tyrrhenian coast
here is one of the places where you can
really touch the
grandeur of nature that yes
manifests through large rocks and a
breathtaking scenery is a place of one
extraordinary beauty where they are
stones characterized by zoomorphic shapes
and anthropomorphic like stone
of the eagle or the lion’s passage where it is
can observe the profile of the priest or
again an orrogynous profile to the person praying
about 25 meters high that seems to have the
hands folded and looking to the north where
it is located in the Aeolian archipelago
from the plateau of the Argimusco it is
You can watch all four of them
horizons
and practice what is called
the astronomy of horizons the horizon
Oriental is special because it is equipped with
a unique relief the roccasalva head that
rises to dominion of the medieval village of
Novara of Sicily
and then the plateau joined to the fortress
form the so-called sacred landscape from
some points of the plateau the cliff
water and the tower is possible
observe in the next days to
equinox the phenomenon of the rising sun
on the fortress
this was very useful
in antiquity to man to create a
real astronomical calendar
useful for example to understand
the alternation of the seasons , Sicily
really a very lucky land to
have many places on the border between heaven
and land places where in some way i
our ancestors have given us one
know atavistic and today more than ever
this knowledge must be protected and
valued properly in other countries less
lucky of us as the United States
of america
man has sought and seeks a bond
ancestral and one of the most examples
curious and certainly manhattan angie
phenomenon also known as the solstice of
manhattan where the sun sets in
alignment with the roads that
through the famous district of new
york in the east west direction is possible
observe this phenomenon at sunset in
two dates close to time level al
summer solstice but it is possible
observe it also from the opposite direction
then at dawn on two dates close to
winter solstice nature beauty
vitality and all this which is found
in places on the border between heaven and earth
of our land of our Sicily
a small continent that holds gods
real treasures yet to be discovered
somehow I think all that
that I told you it can be
summarize in a sentence too
left as a legacy by the great monk
cistercense bernardo of chiaravalle that
in the twelfth century
he wrote this well-aware thought
of the wise strength of nature
you will find more in the woods than in the books
the trees and the stones will teach you
what can not learn from the masters
[Applause]
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