Rirella Editrice: Archaeology, Roman History, and Light in the Great Buildings of the Roman Empire
Rirella Editrice: Archaeology, Roman History, and Light in the Great Buildings of the Roman Empire
Rirella Editrice was founded in 2016 with a specific mission: publish and disseminate the archaeological and archaeoastronomic studies of Marina De Franceschini, archaeologist and independent researcher.
At the heart of her work is Roman antiquity, observed not only through monuments, finds, and historical sources, but also through an often underrated element: Light. The Publishing house presents itself as a specialized cultural project dedicated to the history of Rome, to Roman imperial architecture, and to the symbolic meaning of ancient buildings.
The starting point of this research was the Academy Project, launched in 2005 to study the Accademia of Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli, one of the lesser-known buildings of Hadrian's complex, still privately owned and never open to the public. From there, a multidisciplinary journey began, merging archaeological surveys with the latest information technology, architectural study, symbolic analysis, and Roman cultural archaeoastronomy. Hadrian's Villa not only was a masterpiece of Roman imperial architecture, but also a laboratory for research into the relationship between Power, religion, landscape, and solar orientation.
Emperor Hadrian plays a prominent role in the bibliography and identity of Rirella Editrice. Hadrian's Villa, with buildings such as the Accademia and Roccabruna, was the first site of discovery of the astronomical orientations studied by Marina De Franceschini and Giuseppe Veneziano. The illuminations observed during the Solstices are analyzed in the volume «Villa Adriana. Celestial Architecture. The Secrets of the Solstices», a work that inaugurates a publishing line dedicated to interpreting Roman buildings as spaces designed to create meaningful lighting effects.
The blog expands this horizon with numerous in-depth articles on Hadrian's Villa. For example, it discusses the Great Trapezium, an exceptional subterranean structure consisting of four large galleries never open to the public, illuminated by oculi and interpreted as a hidden road service system for wagons bringing supplies to the Villa. This monument exemplifies Rirella Editrice's educational approach: presenting archaeology not as simple ruins, but as a living reconstruction of the functioning of a great imperial complex.
Other articles on Hadrian's Villa highlight the site's artistic and cultural richness. The statue of the Red Faun, now in the Capitoline Museums and originally from the Accademia, is linked to Dionysian iconography. The so-called Palestra, on the other hand, is interpreted in light of sculptures related to the cult of Isis: busts of priests, sphinxes, the Horus falcon, and a large monumental hall (hypostyle hall). In this way, Rirella Editrice presents Hadrian's Villa as a complex world, where art, oriental cults, imperial symbols, and architecture interact.
Another major protagonist is the Pantheon in Rome. In the book «Pantheon. Architecture & Light (English edition), the Publishing house presents one of Marina De Franceschini's most fascinating discoveries: the Arc and the Square of Light. These phenomena are observed on specific dates throughout the year—April 6, 7, and 8, and September 4, 5, and 6—when the Light from the oculus creates illuminations perfectly calibrated on the building's architecture. According to the proposed interpretation, this is not a coincidence, but a symbolic design in which Light helps reveal the monument's religious and political meaning.
The journey continues with Hadrian's Mausoleum, now known as Castel Sant'Angelo. Rirella Editrice dedicates the volume «Castel Sant'Angelo. Mausoleum of Hadrian. Architecture & Light (English edition), which presents the illuminations of the Hall of the Burial Urns, where the emperor was buried. The blog connects the Mausoleum of Hadrian to the earlier Mausoleum of Augustus, noting that the latter was the first great imperial dynastic Mausoleum, which, according to the proposed interpretation, inspired Hadrian to build his own dynastic tomb near the Tiber.
The Roman history covered by Rirella Editrice does not stop at the Hadrianic era. The blogs also address Augustus, Tiberius, Nero, Vespasian, Trajan, Diocletian, and other great figures of the Empire. The article on the Domus Aurea, for example, reinterprets Nero's palace in light of ancient sources and the negative image created by its damnatio memoriae; it discusses the archaeo-astronomical illuminations that occurred in the Octagonal Hall. Here, the theme of Light returns as a key to interpreting imperial architecture, making the Domus Aurea a precedent for the Pantheon due to the role of the oculus in creating illuminations with the sun's rays on certain days of the year.
Tiberius's Villa in Sperlonga also fits this framework. The blog describes the Grotto-Nymphaeum-Triclinium, the Homeric sculpture groups, and the archaeoastronomical orientation of the two caves toward the setting of the Solstices, discovered by Marina De Franceschini. According to the reported observations, sunlight entered the caves at specific times of the year, transforming the triclinium and the banquet space into a ritual space, linked to the sacred legitimation of imperial power.
Finally, with Diocletian, Rirella Editrice extends archaeoastronomy to Late Antiquity. Articles on Diocletian's Palace in Split discuss the discovery of illuminations in the Vestibule during the Solstices and Equinoxes, and their relationship to the Imperial Cult, the Sol Invictus, and the divine legitimation of the emperor's authority. In this way, the Publishing house showcases the continuity and transformations of Roman power: from Augustus to Hadrian, from Nero to Diocletian, architecture becomes a theater of light, religion, and imperial propaganda.
Rirella Editrice is thus a niche yet highly recognizable Publishing house, capable of combining research, dissemination, and a passion for the ancient Roman world. Books and blogs offer to readers a journey through the archaeology of the Roman Empire, where famous monuments and less accessible places are reinterpreted through light, astronomical orientation, and the symbolic language of power.