ABOUT US
The Rirella Publishing House was founded in 2016 to publish and disseminate the studies of Archaeology and Archaeoastronomy of Marina De Franceschini, archaeologist and independent researcher.
Our books and articles illustrate the results of her Accademia Project, which was created in 2005 to study one of the lesser-known buildings of Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli (Rome), the Accademia; it is still privately owned and has never been opened to the public.
The Accademia Project is multidisciplinary and includes her studies of Roman Cultural Archaeoastronomy, which began at Hadrian's Villa with the discovery of the astronomical orientation of the Accademia and Roccabruna buildings.
The special illuminations that occur there at the Summer and Winter Solstice were published in our first book «Villa Adriana. Architettura Celeste. I Segreti dei Solstizi» (Italian language only).
The studies of Archaeoastronomy then extended to other important buildings of Roman antiquity, where the Author discovered extraordinary luminous magic.
In the Pantheon in Rome she discovered an outstanding illumination: the Arc and the Square of Light. They had a precise symbolic meaning, which is explained in our book «Pantheon. Architecture & Light» (also in English Language)
In the Mausoleum of Hadrian (Castel Sant’Angelo) in Rome, she discovered other illuminations in the Hall of the Burial Urns, where was the red porphyry sarcophagus of emperor Hadrian.
The results were published in our book «Castel Sant’Angelo, Mausoleum of Hadrian. Architecture & Light» (also in English Language)
See the Catalogue of our publications.