The Magic Door of Rome
The Magic Door of Rome is the first place that every alchemy enthusiast or aspiring magician, as well as every curious person or fan of legends and mysteries, should visit.
It is located a short distance from Termini Railway Station, in the heart of the green park of the large Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II, on the Esquiline Hill.
The date is not precise of its realisation. It seems to have been commissioned by the Marquis Massimiliano Palombara in 1655, a lover of alchemy and esotericism. Other sources, however, claim that it was built a few years later (1680) to celebrate a successful alchemical experiment.
Probably, the Porta Magica (Magic Door) of Rome, the only one of five doors at Villa Palombara that have survived to the present day, was a wish of the marquis, after his meeting at dinner with a famous alchemist.
The latter left him a indecipherable recipe for turning all metals into precious gold. In the hope that someone could read and decipher those symbols and writings, Marquis Palombara built the door on which he ordered the recipe to be transcribed.
What is certain is that, the monument captures you, as if you were under some kind of spell. Legend has it that the numerous inscriptions and symbols on the monument, if pronounced correctly and in the right order (unfortunately unknown) can take you to another dimension.
The door is surmounted by a disc on which overlapping triangles are carved, forming a 6-pointed star, a cross, another star and Latin inscriptions. The door (jamb and mullions) bears inscriptions in Hebrew and Latin, as well as carvings of the symbols of the planets.
On the step is an enigmatic inscription: si sedes non is (if you sit you do not proceed) which if read from left to right says si non sedes is (if you do not sit you do proceed). Esoteric or symbolic passage, mystery is the charm of the Porta Magica in Rome.
The Magic Door of Rome You can visit it only by appointment, by calling 06 06 08. Getting there is easy: from Termini Station take bus 714 (it runs along Via Nazionale) and get off at the Merulana-Brancaccio stop. Walk 300 metres and you are in Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II.
