This villa is considered the epitome in architecture of the opulence and elegance of the Roman world. Covering approximately 7 square miles (18 square km), the complex was more an imperial garden city than a traditional villa. Its buildings were designed to follow the natural lay of the land and included baths and bath buildings, libraries, sculpture gardens, theatres, alfresco dining halls, pavilions, and private suites. Significant portions of the complex have survived to modern times. Hadrian’s Villa was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1999. It was proclaimed “a masterpiece that uniquely brings together the highest expressions of the material cultures of the Mediterranean world.”

Between the visit of the two Villa’s we arrange a quickly break for a lunch in a nice place in Tivoli town.

Villa d’Este, estate in Tivoli, near Rome, with buildings, fountains, and terraced gardens designed (1550) by the Mannerist architect Pirro Ligorio for the governor Cardinal Ippolito II d’Este. Before being confiscated as his residence, the property had been a Benedictine convent. Ligorio, who was also an archaeologist, conducted a close examination of the terraced site at the temple complex of Praeneste (now Palestrina) as well as excavations at Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli. His discoveries at these nearby sites influenced his design of (and, in the case of Hadrian’s Villa, supplied the statuary for) the cardinal’s garden. The composer Franz Liszt occupied the top floor of the Villa d’Este from 1865 until his death in 1886. Today the villa itself is less noteworthy than the spacious park and the magnificent fountains, which are supplied with water by two canals dug especially for the purpose.