Magical Cities
Esoteric places of Italy and Europe.
Turin and Northern Italy
20 articlesRome and Central Italy
20 articlesNaples and the South
20 articlesEsoteric Europe
20 articlesSacred and mysterious places
20 articlesPostcards from mystery
Turin and the double triangle of white and black magic
Turin as the shared vertex of two magic triangles with Lyon, Prague, London and San Francisco: the modern origins of a legend and the places tied to it.
3 min readIIRome and Central ItalyThe Alchemical Door of Piazza Vittorio: Carved Symbols and Mottoes
The Magic Door on the Esquiline, last remnant of Villa Palombara: planetary symbols, Latin mottoes and alchemical sources of a unique Roman monument.
3 min readIIINaples and the SouthRaimondo di Sangro, the alchemist prince of Sansevero
The life, inventions and legends of Raimondo di Sangro, seventh Prince of Sansevero: scientist, freemason and reputed alchemist of 18th-century Naples.
3 min readIVEsoteric EuropeRudolf II's Prague: astronomers, alchemists and wonders
Rudolf II made Prague Europe's capital of the occult sciences: Tycho Brahe, Kepler, John Dee, Edward Kelley and the famous imperial Kunstkammer.
3 min readVSacred and mysterious placesEleusis, the sanctuary of the Mysteries of Demeter and Kore
Eleusis and its Mysteries: the myth of Demeter and Kore, the Telesterion, the procession from Athens and a secret kept for nearly two thousand years.
3 min readITurin and Northern ItalyPiazza Statuto, the black heart of Turin in legend
Piazza Statuto in Turin: the Fréjus tunnel monument, memories of burial grounds and gallows, and the modern legend that makes it the city's black heart.
3 min readIIRome and Central ItalyThe Pantheon, Temple of All the Gods and Sky of Stone
From Agrippa's dedication to Hadrian's rebuilding, from the dome and its oculus to the church of the martyrs: history, symbols and legends of the Pantheon.
3 min readIIINaples and the SouthUnderground Naples, the city carved out of tuff
Greek quarries, Roman aqueducts, cisterns and wartime shelters: the history of underground Naples and the legends born beneath the city's streets.
3 min readIVEsoteric EuropePrague's astronomical clock: the medieval sky above the square
History and symbols of the Prague Orloj, built in 1410: astronomical dial, zodiac, apostles, the skeletal Death figure and the legend of master Hanuš.
3 min readVSacred and mysterious placesThe Sacra di San Michele, an abbey suspended over the Susa Valley
The Sacra di San Michele on Mount Pirchiriano: its founding in the late tenth century, the Stairway of the Dead, the Zodiac Door and the tale of fair Alda.
3 min readOccult places: magical cities of Italy and Europe
«Magical Cities» is an educational website devoted to the esoteric places of Italy and Europe: squares, churches, palaces, caves and hills on which history and imagination have left deep marks. A hundred articles, in Italian and English, take the reader on a journey from the Alps to Sicily and from Cornwall to Prague, telling for each place what the documents say and what the legends add.
The North begins with magical Turin, the Gran Madre di Dio, the Fontana Angelica, Piazza Statuto and the Egyptian Museum, and continues through Milan, Venice, Genoa, Bologna and Triora, the Ligurian village of the witch trials. In the centre of the peninsula we meet esoteric Rome, with the Alchemical Door of Piazza Vittorio, the underground mithraea, the Pantheon and the Mouth of Truth, then the Neoplatonic Florence of Marsilio Ficino, the Sacred Grove of Bomarzo, the sword in the stone of Montesiepi and the Sibillini Mountains.
The section on esoteric Naples and the South tells of Raimondo di Sangro and the Sansevero Chapel, Virgil the magician and Castel dell'Ovo, the anime pezzentelle of the Fontanelle cemetery, the Munaciello, the janare of Benevento, Castel del Monte, the Sassi of Matera and the Sicily of Cagliostro, the Beati Paoli and Heliodorus, the magician of Catania. Beyond the Alps, esoteric Europe leads to the Prague of Rudolf II, to Rennes-le-Château, Glastonbury, Stonehenge, Carnac, Rosslyn, Toledo and the Paris of Nicolas Flamel.
The site is completed by a section on sacred and mysterious places, from Eleusis to Newgrange, from the Chartres labyrinth to the Sacra di San Michele, from Mont-Saint-Michel to Santiago de Compostela. The site belongs to the educational network of the Studio Esoterico Cornelio; every article separates historical information from modern traditions and legends, so as to offer even the curious traveller a reliable guide.
Frequently asked questions
Why is Turin considered a magical city?
Turin's reputation as a magical city rests above all on a modern tradition, spread in the later 20th century by books and guided tours, according to which the city is a vertex of two triangles: one of white magic with Lyon and Prague, one of black magic with London and San Francisco. No historical sources confirm it. Real and fascinating places such as the Gran Madre, Piazza Statuto and the Egyptian Museum, however, contribute to it.
What is the Alchemical Door in Piazza Vittorio, Rome?
It is the only survivor of the gates of the villa that Marquis Massimiliano Palombara owned on the Esquiline; it bears the date 1680. Alchemical symbols and Latin mottoes are carved on its jambs and lintel, and at its sides sit two statues of the Egyptian god Bes, added later. A legend tells of a mysterious pilgrim who supposedly turned metal into gold and left a sheet of riddles, later reproduced on the door.
Who was Raimondo di Sangro, Prince of Sansevero?
Raimondo di Sangro (1710-1771), seventh Prince of Sansevero, was one of the most singular figures of 18th century Naples: inventor, experimenter, man of letters and Freemason. He renovated the family chapel, today the Sansevero Chapel, which houses the Veiled Christ by Giuseppe Sanmartino, from 1753. His passion for chemistry and his inventions fed, even during his lifetime, his fame as an alchemist and many legends.
Why is Benevento called the city of witches?
Popular tradition places in Benevento the gathering of the janare, the witches of Samnium, beneath a great walnut tree along the river Sabato. Historians link the legend to the cults practised by the Lombards around a sacred tree, which according to the life of Saint Barbatus was cut down in the 7th century. The 17th century treatise by the physician Pietro Piperno on the walnut tree of Benevento helped to fix this reputation.
What is true about the mystery of Rennes-le-Château?
Bérenger Saunière, the village priest from 1885, spent large sums restoring the church and building a villa and a tower. Investigations at the time indicate that the money came mainly from collecting fees for masses. The legend of a hidden treasure arose in the 1950s and was later expanded by the forged documents of the so-called Priory of Sion, devised by Pierre Plantard.
Why is Prague considered an alchemical city?
Its reputation goes back above all to Emperor Rudolf II of Habsburg, who at the end of the 16th century moved his court to Prague and welcomed astronomers such as Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler, artists, collectors and alchemists, among them the Englishmen John Dee and Edward Kelley. His collection of wonders was famous throughout Europe. The link between Golden Lane and the alchemists, on the other hand, is a later legend.