Cuma

A collection inspired by the architecture of the Cave of the Sibyl (Antro della Sibilla).
[ VI – VII BCE ]

“The gates of hell are open night and day;
Smooth the descent, and easy is the way:
But to return, and view the cheerful skies,
In this the task and mighty labor lies… “

—The Aeneid, book VI, Virgil

The Cave of the Sibyl is a subterranean complex beneath the ancient city of Cumae, near Naples. It was believed to be an entrance to the underworld, a gateway to the mythical realm of the dead. A the story goes… Aeneas consulted the Sibyl before his journey into the underworld to visit his father’s spirit. Aeneas reaches the underworld by passing first through the cave. So the cave served as an access point for living people to enter Hades, the subterranean kingdom of shadows.