The first reference to the “gold number” appears in the architectural treaty of Marco Vitruvio Pollione, who lived in the first century A.D. and was a contemporary of Julius Ceaser, he is considered one of the most important historians of roman architecture. His work, (De Architectura) inspired by Greek philisophy considers several fields of and aspects of building science, from urban planning to public and private constructions all using the concept of perfect symmetry of proportion.

In 1509 Leonardo da Vinci in his De Divina Proportione ( The Divine Proportion ), which is based on the famous “man of Vitruvio”, indicates the gold number with the Greek letter phi.The renaissance artists then adopted the divine proportion in painting and sculpturing technique, hoping to obtain perfect equilibrium in the forms. Leonardo uses it to define all of the fundamental proportions in one of his most famous works “ The Last Supper” from the dimensions of the table where Christ and his Apostles are seated to the correlation of the walls to the windows in the background.

But it is only in the 20th century that the phi becomes a symbolic expression. Previously it was called the gold number or divine number but the letter phi is also the first syllable of the name Phidias, a great Greek sculptor and mathematician (500-432 A.D.) who used this proportional relationship in the creation of sculpting of the Parthenon.

In 1990, brothers Antonio and Massimo Levis restructure and transform the company LEVIS Rivestimenti started by their father Ludovico, giving life to PRISMA Color which includes the artisan line of lime plasters ARTE ANTIQUA.

The younger brother, Massimo, moves to the U.S. in 2004 with the intention of offering his experience and background in the application of Italian plasters and special paint products to the expert designers and contractors in this field.
And so is formed "H e d ō s - Italian Decorative Finishes".

Driven by the desire to increase awareness and appreciation for the uniqueness of the ARTE ANTIQUA finishes, Massimo decides to choose a symbol that truly expresses the intrinsic quality of the various materials, therefore the upper case phi Φ becomes the symbol linked to Hedōs - Italian Decorative Finishes.

This symbol represents the gold number used by architects from ancient Greece to gain ideal harmony of proportion. Perfectly symmetric and symbolizing balance, the letter phi is in line with the philosophy that bonds the product with its mark: in this case, finishes that state contemporary and classic design at the same time, that characterize an esthetic logic that applauds symmetry and equilibrium of the structure.