Villa d'Este, Tivoli

We bypassed Rome, except for Tivoli. The Villa d'Este of Tivoli is the stuff of legend, with its famed terraces and crystal water fountains dating from the 1500s.

The town of Tivoli dates from even before the Roman period. The ancient Etruscans lived here from 700BC to 400BC (BC dates go in reverse). In those days, a sibyl was lodged in Tivoli. A sibyl is a female oracle who spoke with the voice of the river nymph of the Aniene river. The town is perched on the side of the hill at the start of the Aniene river falls. The Roman elite chose Tivoli as their summer retreat and built here magnificent villas of which Villa d'Este survives in part.

It is the gardens of Villa d'Este that people come to see.

Since there is a waterfall, there must necessarily be a steep gradient. The gardens of Villa d'Este sit on a series of terraces downhill. The steep gradient water pressure powers the many fountains of the garden. There are no pumps and yet jets of water spurt, tinkle and chime from every corner of the garden. There is even one fountain that plays a waterpower organ. I kid you not. At 10.30am every day, doors in the fountain swing open and music fills the air, played by no human hands.

The Villa d'Este was the construction of Ippolito d'Este the Second. He was the grandson of a pope and the son of Lucrezia Borgia, whose salacious story we will learn when we make it to the town of Spoleto a few blogposts later. Ippolito d'Este' the Second's career was a trailblazing one. At 2 yrs old, he was ordained a priest. By 10 yrs old, he was already an Archbishop. For a time, it looked like he would become Pope, like his grandfather. Happily, he did not because in his disappointment at not becoming Pope, he soothed himself by building Villa d'Este for Petunia to enjoy.

This said, I was a little disappointed. The aged patina of these 16th century constructions look beautiful in photos. They photograph well. Up close, they wear their decay too proudly. Statues are covered in moss. Nymphs are overgrown with foliage and you can barely see them as they hug the columns they were carved into. The Husband thinks that there is so much history to preserve in Italy and not enough money. The Italians have to prioritise. Personally, I think that the Italians have a high tolerance of things that look old and decayed. These things are old after all and they should look old. That is as it should be. Still, I wish the Italians would put as much effort into preserving their historical sites as the British do. Buildings from the same period in UK history look so much better.

Not far from the Villa d'Este, there is the Villa Adriana, which looks even older because it dates from the 2nd century AD. That is about 1800 years ago. The Villa Adriana belonged to an Emperor, no less. The Emperor whose influence stretched all the way from Rome to England at that time, reigned from his Villa Adriana in Tivoli because he hated his palace on Palatine Hill in Rome.

One must not underestimate the Villa Adriana ruins. It is single handedly responsible for the design of many Renaissance buildings that stand proudly today across Europe. The spirit of Emperor Hadrian's Villa Adriana lives on in buildings and art still standing today. This is because famous architects and artists of the Renaissance period all came to Villa Adriana to get inspiration and to study construction methods - Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Palladio, Pirro Ligorio, Brunelleschi. In the 18th century, anyone who was anybody, came here to see Villa Adriana and imagine what it must have been like in the 2nd century AD.

The Son said Villa Adriana is a pile of ruins and so, we did not go and see it. Sigh... my son.