The Walk of the Hundred Fountains of Villa d´Este

Allegory of the Milky Way in a Pythagorean Sky

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I.·.P.·.H.·. Guillermo Calvo Soriano, 33rd

 Fountain of the 100 Fountains - Poetry
Dr. Guillermo Calvo Soriano
“Beautiful Fountain of the 99
and a Fountains
Beautiful Heavenly Avenue,
The water flows from you
Purifying and Crystalline
Giving happiness and charm.
You coo with your solemn murmur
Softening our anguished heart.
Wonder of Wonders,
Your stillness, your peace
and your greenery
for 4 centuries
They seem to invite us to follow you
Like true Path to Paradise...!”
 Water and Light.
Antiquity admits Three Worlds:
the sublunary world,
the supracelestial world
and the celestial world.
In his commentary on Genesis,
the Heptaplo,
Pico de la Mirarla says:
1- The sublunary world
is designated by the Waters,
flowing and unstable substance.
2 - The supracelestial world by Fire
due to the splendor
and to the eminence of the place.
 3 - And the Sky,
of medium nature,
is composed of Water and Fire.
Here, Life and Death
play at exchanging,
there on high is the Eternal Life
and operates permanently;
in Heaven there is stability of life,
but works and places change.
 This staging of the World reveals the complex relationships
of Fire and Water in their opposition and their mixture, of Spirit and
Light, assimilated to the Fire, with the Waters... which are flowing
dispositions of the Matter. In this game of allegories,
the Waters, formless, ready to marry all Forms,
nurture multiple images and can become
the support of symbolic spaces of diverse natures.
 In Genesis (1,2-3)
the Waters are the first Darkness
from which springs
the Primordial Light
on the first day.
Darkness was upon
the face of the abyss
and the Spirit of the Lord
was taken to the Waters.
And God said:
“Let there be Light!”
 On the second day, God “divides the Waters from the Waters”
(Genesis) creates the Firmament, which separates the Waters, the
supracelestial waters of the subcelestial ones, naming them Heaven,
commonly designated by the vault of the Fixed Stars, the Firmament
corresponds to the ceiling established between the Crystalline Sky,
invisible from the supracelestial waters and the Celestial World
of the waters called subcelestial, perceptible to the eye.
 On the 3rd day “the waters
that are under Heaven
are gathered in one place”
(Genesis 1:9) and let the earth
appear to form the sea
of the sublunary world.
“The Waters” symbolize four
levels of substance, the original
darkness (making room
for the Light),
“the crystalline Heaven”
of the supracelestial waters
(pure invisible Light),
the Celestial World of waters,
the sub-celestial waters
and the sublunary sea.
Palaces and Gardens of Villa d´Este - Tivoli
 The allegory of the “Aerial Sea” or the “Celestial Ocean”
encompasses both subcelestial and supracelestial waters under
the generic term of “Upper Waters”, that the Souls go
through coming from the Empyrean, or when returning.
 Celestial and sublunar waters. To a staging of the Worlds
corresponds a staging of the Waters, an aquatic scale that the
Garden of Villa d'Este suggests in an enigmatic but essential way.
The Axis of the Fountain of Neptune and the Ponds
is important symbolizing the Celestial Race.
 In this game of allegories, the image of the sublunar ocean,
of the Sea dedicated to Neptune, overlaps that of the “Celestial Sea”,
race in which the planets rotate.
 In the same way, the Fountain of the Dragons illustrates at once,
as Armillary Sphere and representation of the Cosmos,
the “Heavenly Ocean” of the 8 spheres and,
at the level of the equator circle, a representation
of the sublunar Ocean that surrounds the earth located in the center
of the Circles of the Elements represented by the Dragons.
 The Fountain of Pegasus

Fountain of Rome
These considerations on the levels of allegory (supracelestial,
celestial or sublunary) to which the representation of The Waters
will allow us to address the second East-West Axis of the Garden
which, from the Fountain of Pegasus leads to that of Rome
along the Walk of the Hundred Fountains. We know that they figure
the waters of Tivoli, from its source to the sea.
 They follow the course of the Anio river to join the Tiber river
in Rome and, from there, to the Tyrrhenian Sea, the marine horizon
of the garden.This allegory, dedicated to the sublunary step,
is superimposed on another dedicated to the Celestial figuration
of the waters, which, from the same source, flow into
“an eternal river... into the same Ocean of Life”.
 This image of the Celestial Ocean flowing from the first source
it is proposed to us by the Tivoli Fountain. An engraving
by A. Lafreri, of 1575, the sample with its great oval basin receiving
the waters spilling a monumental crater, glued on top of
a mighty column, abundantly fed by a glass spherical from which
it overflows bubbling in a luminous cataract.
In the descriptions of the Paris Manuscript and of Nicolas Audebert,
the large oval basin is attributed to the Ocean, also specifies
that at the foot of the rock placed in the center of the crater,
were two Dolphins and that the cryptoporticus around
of the basin was decorated with stucco and mosaic motifs
that illustrated representations dedicated to marine allegories.
 This ocean scene is made up
of ten Nymphs, who since
their urns constantly pour water
into the basin, ten Nereids,
companions of Leucotea,
“The White Lady”, goddess
of foam of the sea,
the Sibyl Albunea. It reminds us
of the little fountain
mural located
in the Great Hall
of the Villa that represents
the Temple of the Sibyl
and uses, in the same way,
to the aquatic allegories in honor
of the salvifies marine deity.
 We will return to the figure of the crater,
Source from which all Souls derive, let us only remember
this image of a single source feeding a luminous river,
the Celestial Ocean flowing into the Sky.
 Getting involved in the Walk
of the Hundred Fountains,
an allegorical extension of this river
escaping heavenly from the crater
fountain of the Tivoli Fountain,
we are captivated by the clarity
of their water games.
A diaphanous flow seems
suspended in the air,
shining in the light,
to form a long procession
sparkling with a thousand fires.
This image leads us to
the milky river that runs through
the vault of the fixed stars,
to the bright milky way with
myriads of Stars of the Galaxy.
 Designed by Pirro Ligorio, it flanks an avenue of 100 meters
that connects the Ovato Fountain, also known as Tivoli,
with the Fountain of Rome (Rometta). Allegorically the 3 little ones
parallel watercourses that form, at different heights, for the feeding
of the jets, they represent the Albuneo river, the river Aniene
and the river Herculaneum, tributaries of the Tiber represented
by the Rometta, generated by the Tiburtini Mountains,
represented by the Ovato Fountain.
 In the upper part, the Luminary Boats sail in the river
of the Celestial Ocean with two opposing jets, in the image
of the Asp elevated flanking the Isis Liturgical Vessel.
Rowing on the river ethereal of the Walk of the Hundred Fountains
and illustrates the meeting of the Fire and of Water,
of Spirit with Matter. It is a Symbol of the Vehicle of the Soul.
 After its completion, the Hundred Fountains were to produce
a great impression and a strong impact due to its sumptuous beauty
and refined. Its polished marbles and splendid sculptures
from which came powerful torrents, as in many other sources,
the flow of water through the centuries has caused its erosion.
Engraving by Venturini from 1685. On the second level, you can see
clearly the terracotta high-reliefs on the stucco panels
with mythological scenes from Ovid's Metamorphoses, the latin poet,
currently absent due to the erosion of time and the waters.
In the middle part, the Allegory of the River of Becoming could be
seen in the stuccoes, flow of the Metamorphoses of Matter
and passions of the body, a symbol of mutation and permanent
transformation.The flows of generation expand in the sublunary
world on the lower level through masks that throw the water,
flanked by sea monsters.
 The spectacular effect of this
wonderful Walk inspired the poet
Gabriele D'Annunzio:
"Parlan fra le non tocche verzure,
le Cento Fontane parlan soavi e
piane, come feminee bocche,
mentre sui lor fastigi, che il Sol
di porpora veste, splendon,
Oh Gloria d´Este, l´Aquile
e i Fiordiligi".
“They speak among the virgin
vegetation, the Hundred Fountains
speak softly and plainly, like
women's mouths, while in his
annoyances, that the sun
is dressed in violet, splendor,
Oh Glory of East,
the Eagles and the Lily Fleurs”.
 On the left
the Walk
of the Hundred Fountains
it is decorated
with strange Sphinxes
and Monstrous
Marine animals.
 Francis II of Modena
integrated in 1685
the Ligorian
annoyance with
stone Eagles
to complete
the Estense Heraldry.
In memory
of this restoration,
At the beginning
of the Walk, you can
read on the marble:
“SERENISSIME FRANCISI II IN MUTINAE REGII ET C, DUCIS
VEL ABSENTIS MUNIFICIENTIA FONTES ISTI TEMPORE
INCURIA COLLABENTES MAGNIFICENTIORI FORMA
CONSTRUCTI ET VENUSTATI QUAM VIDES RESTITUTI
ANNO SALUTIS MDCLXXXV”
 The Neoplatonic tradition places
there the Origin of Life,
the residence of the Star-Souls,
under the aspect of an infinity
of points of Light from where they
come all the Souls that descend
in the generation.
This Celestial River is crossed here
by a procession of Boats,
vehicles of the Divine Soul
and reminiscence of an Egyptian
belief that represented the Sun
and the deities on Boats.
Belief reaffirmed by
the Neoplatonists, for whom
the Souls they remain above
the Waters before plunging
into Generation.
On this Avenue of the Hundred Fountains, these ancient images
they become circulating flow stages in overlapping channels.
At the highest level, the Boats, with their Liquid Crystal mast,
shine in the Light, allegory of this Milky River that represents
the Milky Way in the highest height of the Heavens.
 The allegories proposed by these water artifices must be read
on two levels that must be clearly distinguished, because,
depending on whether they are related to the Celestial World
or that they evoke the sublunary world, the images can have
antagonistic meanings: those that relate to the Celestial World
stage Fire and Water in their stability.
 While those related to the sublunary world
illustrate unstable and flowing waters of the World of Generation,
of becoming and metamorphoses
and which “Life and Death play to exchange”.
 The Spiritus Mundi sung
by Marsilio Ficino,
animates the wonders of the
Water Artifices of the Garden,
under the aspect
of the Liquid Crystal
of the Waters,
myriads of translucent
and shiny water pearls
that receives from the Sun
Seeds of Life,
Source of Life of the World
and his promise
of transfiguration.
 Isis “Mother and all Nature”
dominates the Garden.
“The Priestess Hydrophora”,
in a gesture of ostentation
in honor of the god Osiris,
he offers for veneration
the Power
of the Spirit suspended
over the Waters,
thus illustrating the Mystery
of the Covenant of Fire
and Water of the Spirit
that are incorporated
into the Matter, giving it Life.
 “The Hydrophoric Priestess”,
ostentatious icon of the Sacred
Waters of the Nile, now in the
Capitoline Museum, in Rome.
Like the Priests of the Cult
of Isis, she presents to
the veneration of the faithful,
a Libation Urn,
the Nile Water Cup, that reveals
the Presence of Osiris,
Giver of Life,
the god who gives the River
its Generating Power,
Spirit suspended
over the Waters, into which
he breathes his Life Seeds.
Allegory referring to the Liturgy
Priestess and Worship of the goddess. Priest
 The Sacred Serpent,
one of the Attributes of Isis,
appears on the glass,
Luminaria and Boat,
which we see sailing in 23 copies,
on the Waters
of the Celestial Ocean of the
Avenue of the Hundred Fountains.
 “The Golden Lamp” in the shape of a Boat.
On its visible part it carries an Asp with its head raised.
 The Initiation to the Mysteries of Isis brings
the Revelation of the Cosmic Journey
that awaits the Souls on the Day of the Liberation of the Body.
 After the pain
of the dispersion
of the Members of Osiris
and the joy
of Reunification in
the Resurrected Osiris,
the Initiate like Him,
dresses with
the Celestial Suit
and the Torch.
 Enjoys the ability of his Soul to Fly in the Astral Vastness
in the manner of the Angels, moving along the Celestial Ladder,
that from the Empyrean leads to the Labyrinth of the Senses,
edge of matter.
 She gives them
the last Purification
that will allow them
Fly into the Ether,
like the Vessels of Light,
allegories of the Redeemed Soul,
turned into Pure Reason,
Pure Spirit, which occurs along
the Walk
of the Hundred Fountains
in the Waters
of the Primordial Ocean.
The flow that flows from the Fountain to the Sea, from the Fountain
of Tivoli to that of Neptune, through the Walk of the Hundred
Fountains and the Fountain of Rome, illustrates the sublunary
waters, flow of the Sources and of the Rivers that cross
the Roman countryside to reach the Tyrrhenian Sea.
 The Soul, combination of Fire and Water floats
on the Celestial Waters in the Walk of the Hundred Fountains,
that flows into an Eternal River, into an Ocean of Life.
 A Stream Encompassing the Celestial World
and spreads, from a single Source, in the “Aerial Sea” of the Ether.
 Luminous Flow of “Celestial Waters”, whose igneous substance
expands in the sublunar waters by the Movement of the Generation.
The Garden of Villa d'Este, with the help of its Water Artifices,
becomes in an image of the Procession of Heavenly Light
in the World.
This Light flows along the Cosmic Levels and makes them
communicate, like the Rainbow that, when drawing a bow
between Heaven and Earth, unfolds its rays
about the Ponds and the Fountain of Nature.
 From the Fountain to the Sea, the Water runs down the slope
of the garden, spreads and breaks into multiple streams,
like Light that extends into all things. By an infinity of artifices,
she exults in a thousand jets that bloom in corollas of tiny drops
diaphanous submitted to an incessant Metamorphosis.
 In a thousand ways, Water, allegory of “Celestial Water”
that reconciles Water and Fire, refracts Light. she catches him
into bright bubbles and makes it reverberate in the form of colorful
glassware, becoming its diaphanous and privileged companion
shining brightly, joyfully exchanging the Principles of her.
 To take all Forms, Water awaits
its Revelation of Light,
that will animate and structure it.
Liquid Crystal she has the shine
of
“the Primordial Light that shines
in the Soul as through glass”,
in Pseudo-Denys's terms.
Matter vivified by the Light,
she is the Symbol of the Spirit
that is incorporated or,
conversely, of the Body
that is spiritualized.
According to Marsilio Ficino, Great Renaissance Philosopher,
Light is that “celestial laughter provoked by the jubilation
of the Celestial Spirits” who rejoice in their own clarity and
that of the Sun. She is the vehicle of the Spirit that informs,
shapes Matter, to the Water, which reveals itself
in the joyful radiance of its Transparency.
The myriads of droplets that shine under the effect of the rays
of Light, scintillating bubbles, concentrating mirrors,
gather the Light.
 There are so many allegories of the Light of the Soul,
of this ethereal vehicle
that accompanies her in her astral descent, towards the Generation.
 The Luminous radiance of the Crystalline Water, Resplendent Fire
of the Astral Ray, allegorically figures the Spirit of the World
that guides the Soul during their incorporation. In Marsilio Ficino's
terms, it is this Spiritus Mundi,
the mediator between the Soul and the Body of the World.
 This “very
tenuous body,
which,
so to speak,
is not a body,
and since it is
already a Soul,
for the same
reason
it is not...”
“In some way it is already a body, which by virtue of its very little
terrestrial nature, is more of watery matter, even more aerial
and even much more igneous and stellar in nature”.
This Liquid Crystal is a symbol of the Spirit that flows in the World
and gives Life, animating him like a great living animal,
animates the World as he animates the Body of the Garden,
that exults his Joy in his infinite Work of Water.
It constitutes the living heart of the enigma that waters all
the allegories and symbols implemented in the Villa.
The enigma of the becoming of the Spirit
in the World and its progress among beings and things.
The mystery of its dynamics that,
in the eyes of the Platonists
and of all the Great Traditions,
makes it return
to its Divine Origin,
after having animated
the great machine of the World.
The Liquid Crystal shines under the sun's rays, bright screen,
she makes the Light sing and it sounds like a big happy laugh
that fills the Body of the Garden with joy.
 Spirit made of Heaven and Ether, Water and Fire,
he unites the Soul with the Body in Generation and begets the thing.
 HAIL BEATIFUL
VIALE DELLE CENTO FONTANE

Bibliography
Dernie D. The Villa d´Este at Tivoli, London, 1966
Moser M. Le Jardin, art et lieu de mémoire, 1995
Gerard Desnoyers. La Villa d´Este a Tivoli
o Le Songe d´Hippolyte,
Un réve d´immortalité héliaque. Paris, 2002
Isabella Barisi, Marcello Faggiolo,
Maria Luisa Madonna. Villa d´Este. Roma, 2003

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I.·.P.·.H.·. Guillermo Calvo Soriano, 33rd