Le perle rosse di Sardegna nei gioielli Castellani a Villa Giulia – The Red Pearls of Sardinia in Castellani Jewelry at Villa Giulia
By (author) Enrico Butini By (author) Flavio Butini
In January 1919, Alfredo Castellani, the last descendant of the most important dynasty of 19th-century Roman goldsmiths (Fortunato Pio, Augusto and Alessandro Castellani), donated an exceptional collection of archaeological artifacts and 19th-century works to the Italian State.
The bequest, the result of almost a century of the Castellani family’s work, comprised numerous archaeological finds (5,145 items including marbles, bronzes, ceramics, ivories and glass) as well as a substantial collection of jewelry produced by the family (1,175 pieces) and 92 gemstones, including carvings and scarabs. In accordance with the terms of the will, the entire collection is now on display in the galleries of the prestigious National Etruscan Museum at Villa Giulia.
In recent years, within this context, IGN Rome has been commissioned to study and analyze all the gemological materials set in the jewelry on display or held in the museum’s storerooms.
This study is devoted exclusively to the gemological investigation of a rare and distinctive material, never before used in the field of fine jewelry: the red pearls of Pinna nobilis. The research examines not only the gemological aspects, but also the historical and literary evidence, the fishing grounds and the ancient trade routes associated with this precious material.
Today, we admire the coves and inlets of Sardinia (La Maddalena, Palau, Punta Sardegna with Porto Rafael, Porto Pozzo and Porto Pollo), appreciating their extraordinary scenic beauty, often unaware that their crystal-clear waters once harbored lush Posidonia seagrass meadows, amongst which the now rare ‘nacchere’ (Pinna nobilis) found refuge.
Finally, we hope to see the strict enforcement of the regulations designed to protect this species, which is, unfortunately, now seriously threatened and at risk of extinction.
- By (author) Enrico Butini
- By (author) Flavio Butini
Other Titles in this Series
Antike Glaeser
Monumenta Antiquitatis extra fines Hungariae reperta quae in Museo Artium hungarico aliisque museis et collectionibus hungaricis conservantur. Vol. 5
Volume 19
Patrimonio arqueologico espanol en Roma como instrumentos de memoria historica
Le Mostre Internazionali di Archeologia
Volume 61
The Great Civilisations of the Ancient Sahara
Neolithisation and the earliest evidence of anthropomorphic religions
Volume 21
The Brick System of Romanesque Architecture
The Lombard Band and Its Transformation in Catalonia and France
Volume 56
The Site of the Battle of the Aegates Islands at the end of the First Punic War
Fieldwork, analyses and perspectives, 2005-2015
Volume 60
Case e torri medioevali a Roma
Vol. I. Documentazione, storia e sopravvivenza di edifici medioevali nel tessuto urbano di Roma
Volume 22
Divagazioni archeologiche Vol. II
Di un pre-arco insussistente. Di quattro colonne di caristio
Volume 4
Le Sepolture principesche nel Lazium Vetus
Tra la fine della prima meta del ferro e l'inizio dell'eta orientalizzante
Volume 36
Excavation of a Roman Villa
And Late Roman Infant Cemetery near Lugnano in Teverina, Italy
Volume 23
Coptic Antiquities I
Stone Sculpture, Bronze Objects; Ceramic Coffin Lids and Vessels; Terracotta Statuettes, Bone, Wood, and Glass Artefacts. (Monumenta antiquitatis extra fines hungariae reperta, vol. II)
Volume 11
Orvieto La necropoli di Cannicella
Scavi della Fondazione per il Museo C. Faina e della Universita di Perugia (1977)
Volume 13
Monitoraggio e Manutenzione delle Aree Archeologiche
Cambiamenti climatici, dissesto idrogeologico, degrado chimico-ambientale
Volume 65
Il Paesaggio suburbano di Roma dall’antichita al medioevo
Il comprensorio tra le vie Latine ed Ardeatina dalle mura Aureliane al III miglio
Volume 27
Similar Books
Caesar’s Visions and Impact on the Roman Empire
Revisiting the Archaeological and Historical Record of the 40s BC
Volume 2
Etruscan and Roman Hellenistic Anatomical ex votos
Reassessing Popular Religious Expressions in Central Italy
Volume 8
Invisible Labour in Antiquity
Visualizing Obscure Work in the Ancient Mediterannean and West Asia
Volume 1
Late Antique villae in the Balkans (3rd–7th c. AD): Current Research Questions and Perspectives
HAEMUS Companion to the Late Antique Balkans 1
Volume 4
Portraying the Individual in the Roman East
Local–Imperial Entanglements in Sculpture, Mosaics, and Paintings (First–Fourth Centuries AD)
Volume 18
Small Worlds and Relational Agencies: Local Societies in Early Medieval Iberia
Pequeños mundos y Agencias relacionales: Sociedades locales altomedievales en la Península Ibérica
The Iron Age Pottery from Tell Atchana / Ancient Alalakh
A Typological and Functional Analysis
Volume 8
Writing in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem
Inscription and Graffiti in a Multilingual and Multigraphic Perspective
Volume 45
Atlante tematico di topografia antica 36-2026
Urbanistica e monumenti, porti, Roma. Ricerche sui monti Aurunci
Volume 36
Cerámica común romana y ciclo haliéutico
Análisis de los contextos de las cetariae de Iulia Traducta
Nuove scoperte e progressi nelle metodologie di rilievo e analisi dell’arte rupestre post-paleolitica in Italia
New discoveries and progress in the tracing and analysis methodologies of the post-Paleolithic rock art in Italy
A Dramatic Event in Late Roman Florence
The Anomalous Burial Site Discovered beneath the Uffizi Gallery
Alexander the Great and the Campaign of Gaugamela
New Research on Topography and Chronology. IAMNI 1 (Italian Archaeological Mission to Northern Iraq)
Volume 53
Approaching Ancient Greek Coastal and Inland Poleis in the Northern Peloponnese
New Research in the Microregions of Aigeira, Lousoi and Sikyon
Volume 4