Winter Solstice and Lunar Standstills in the Gardens of Villa D’Este

Abstract

The gardens of Villa d’Este are a masterpiece of the Italian Garden style. The villa and the gardens were created by the Cardinal Ippolito II d’Este, Governor of Tivoli, in the remarkable context of Tivoli itself, which includes the ruins of the ancient roman Villa Adriana. The Cardinal charged the architects Pirro Ligorio and Giovanni Alberto Galvani of the planning of his new monumental complex. In particular, Ligorio planned the gardens. In their layout, the architect largely used the mythological iconography, to which he added also an allusion to an astronomical event, the winter solstice. In fact, the orientation of an axis of the gardens is along the direction of the sunset on this solstice. In a subsequent rearrangement of the lower part of the gardens, another astronomical reference was also incorporated. It is a reference to the major and minor standstills of the moon about the winter solstice.

Keywords: Satellite images, Google Earth, Orientation, SunCalc, Architecture, Reinassance Garden