Tiara in Tivoli...

I visited Tivoli, a city about 20km from Rome one afternoon. First I visited the ancient Emperor Hadrian's Villa Adriana and then the beautiful gardens of Villa D'Este.

VILLA D'ESTE
Villa D'Este is a garden full of spectacular and theatrical fountains that surrounds a Renaissance villa converted fr0m a former Benedictine convent in 1550.

Pic 1- A breathtaking waterfall.

Pic 2 - One of the terraces of the garden has a view overlooking the city. This fountain includes a statue of the She Wolf and the nursing twins Romolo and Remus.

Pic 3 - A staircase surrounding the Fontana dei Draghi (Fountains of Dragons (pic 4) is a fountain itself and has water running down the handrails.

Pic 5 - Me taking a drink at one of the few fountains that is lableled for drinking. Tip: Don't be tempted to drink or splash in the water at the other fountains...it is essentially waste water.

Pic 6 - 100 Fontane...this one wall has 100 fountains.

Pic 7 - A beautiful terrace with the crest.

Pic 8 - Nothing particularly interesting about this...just more beauty....

Pic 9 - A fountain with plenty of things to check out...caves, castles etc.

Pic 10 - Bernini, Bernini everywhere...even in Tivoli. Bernini's Fontana Del Bicchierone (Big Cup)





























VILLA ADRIANA

Villa Adriana was Emperor Hadrian's grandiose villa. It was so huge and only took 10 years to build. (The Colosseum alone took 10 years). He died only 3 years after it was finished. There were ancient baths for men and women (pic 5) , palaces for guests etc. His "apartment" was a group of 3 structures with a huge palace with his own private baths and a library (shown right to left in pic 4)



Pic 3 shows the beautiful (and new) Pecile that kicked off the visit...a huge colonnade near the entrance where there were some little ducks take an afternoon dip in the pool.

The Canopus was the highlight of the visit. It is a replica of the Temple of Serapis at Canopus (pics 1 & 2) which was linked to the Nile by a canal. Here there is an artificial waterway that runs down a man-made valley. It is fringed with statues and fragments of columns,


including serene caryatids (towards the back). It was probably used for late night dining. They didn't actually swim in it. The entire complex was so large you would need hours to see it all.