We took a day trip to the town of Tivoli, about an hour east of Rome, and visited 3 villas: Hadrian's Villa, Villa d'Este, and Villa Gregoriana. Tivoli is a beautiful, little town with narrow, cobblestone streets and quiet, little squares. It would be a perfect place to stay for a week, explore the villas, and pop into Rome every now and then (round train train ticket costs only $6). But first, train station breakfast of my favorite dessert, streets of Tivoli, and laundry.
Hadrian's Villa (Villa Adriana)
Villa Adriana is a UNESCO World Heritage Site comprising the ruins and archaeological remains of a large villa complex built around AD 120 by Roman emperor Hadrian near Tivoli outside Rome. The villa covers an area of one square kilometer, which is larger than the city of Pompeii. It was a retreat for Emperor Hadrian.
Villa d’Este is also a World Heritage site. It was built in the 16th century and is famous for its Italian Renaissance garden an fountains. It was commissioned by Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este (1509–1572), second son of Alfonso I d'Este, the Duke of Ferrara and grandson of Pope Alexander VI through his mother Lucrezia Borgia.
The Villa had beautifully painted ceilings and walls.
But the most spectacular element of the villa were the fountains.
Villa Gregoriana is located at the foot of the city's ancient acropolis. It consists mainly of thick woodland with paths that lead to the small circular Roman Temple of Vesta, the caves of Neptune and the Sirens, which form part of a series of gorges and cascades, and to the Great Waterfall. The park was commissioned by Pope Gregory XVI in 1835 to rebuild the bed of the Aniene River, which had been damaged by the flood of 1826.
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