AN HYPOTHESIS OF AN ASTRONOMICAL SYSTEM OF LIGURES APUAN IN GARFAGNANA

Abstract

In the course of my research on the orientation of Romanesque churches in Tuscany, I came across a very interesting case. The entrance and the axis of two churches in Barga (St. Cristoforo's dome and St. Frediano's church in Sommocolonia - one of Barga’s boroughs) look at the same point on the horizon: the Monte Forato mountain, one of the peaks of the Apuan Alps which is characterized by an impressive natural rock arch. Strikingly, Monte Forato's profile reproduces the so called "face" of the “Omo Disteso” (literally “Lying man”) , about which there are various legends. An astronomical sense has been indeed found about the geographic axis of the two churche, which are turned towards the same point. Observing the sunset at winter solstice, from St. Frediano's church in Som- mocolonia, we can see that the sunset point coincides with Monte Forato. While from St. Cristoforo's dome, the moonset point coincides with Monte Forato at the minor southern standstill. We may further observe that the moonset point coincides with the Monte Forato, at the major southern standstill, looking from the pre-Romanesque church (of Longobard age) St. Michele a Perpoli (Gallicano). Is it a fortuitous case? In this paper I will try to demonstrate that this system, of astronomic and geographic coincidence, originates from a form of religious syncretism which envisaged the construction of the churches in the ancient holy sites of the Ligures Apuan. The alignment system is perfectly identical to the one found in the British Islands (Ruggles, 1999) and in Sardinia (Zedda 1992; 2009; 2013). We are in front of an ancient custom of building alignment clearly widespread among people in prehistoric ages. Once the prehistoric peaple found a natural reference point, well-characterized on the horizon, they chose and they marked the observation point (with a menhir, a stone circle, a dolmen or something else) from where they could observe the Sun and the Moon rising and setting at a chosen view point in their standstill points.