Tivoli Things to Do

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Photo 1 - in front of the Fountain
Photo 2 - Sitting by 3 reflecting pools that face the fountain
Photo 3 - Upper walkway of fountain behind the water
Photo 4 - Facade with organ enclosure atop the fountain
Photo 5 - Close-up of the organ

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Between the Small and the Great Baths you can see the vestibolo. From the ruins scholars supposed to be made by three buidings connected to one another. At the center there was a square courtyard suroounded by a portico. To the west side of the central building there was a tetrastyle temple dedicated to Matidia, emperor Hadrian's mother-in-law.

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The Piccole Terme (Small Bath, in Englis) is one of my best building of the Villa. This complex is well preserved and it was built between 121 and 126 AD. The building is surrounded by courts adorned in various ways (exedrae, gardens, etc.). Inside there were large windows which allowed a lot of light inside. The rooms were covered with various types of vaults (barrel, spherical and semi-spherical) which you can see during the visit. In the vestibule you can see on the vault fragments of plasters and mosaic. From there you can reach the nymphaesum (you can see the hydraulic system to heat the water), the apoditherium (dressing room, in English), the calidarium and the frigidarium.
Probably these baths were reserved for women, instead the Great Baths was used by men.

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In fron of the Cento Camerelle you can see the building called Tre Esedre (Three exedrae, in English). The Hall is so called for its peculiar plan with semi-circular exdrae open open on three sides. It has got a central room with internal colonnades to create of a dipiest building. This building was probably the main access of the villa and the core of the villa's reception area with rich ornaments and the elegance of the structures. The north side of the building have got many open air rooms and they were probably used for summer banquets, instead the south part were used for state activity.

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Walking in the nice garden of the Pecile you arrive to Cento Camerelle (One hundred Small Rooms, in English). This complex takes its name from the numerous rooms by which it is composed. It was built to create a terrace to support the Poikile which had a difference in height of about 15 meters.
The structure have a series of non-communicating rectangular rooms of identical dimensions (6.1 X 4.7 meters) on four floors. The rooms were the residential quarters of the imperial guard and the villa's servants.
At the foot of the structure you can see a road of stones that leads to the underground of the villa.

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The Pecile (Poikile, in English) is the first building you meet. It is an arcaded court based on the design of the famous stoa poikile in Athens. It was a four-sided portico wit sloping roofs. In the centre there is a large pool with a vast garden.
The pecile was used as summer dining room and also as a place where the emperor could relax and have meeting with his entourage. Nowadays you can still see the north side wall (204 meters long) and the central pool with some funny goslings and ducks swimming inside.

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Villa Adriana (Hadrian's Villa, in English) is the biggest Roman villa of the world. It was built by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a retreat villa from the crowd Rome in the 2ne century.
The villa has got over 30 buildings, covering an area of about 1 square kilometre. Hadrian wanted to reproduce the places he met during its journey along the Roman Empire and it shows echoes of many different architectural orders, mostly Greek and Egyptian.
The complex included palaces, several thermae, theatre, temples, libraries, state rooms and quarters for courtiers, praetorians and slaves.
The ruins you can still seen nowdays give you an idea how wonderful the villa was in the ancient time.
After Hadrian, the villa was used by his various successors. During the decline of the Roman Empire the villa fell into disuse and was partially ruined. In the 16th century Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este had much of the marble and statues in Hadrian's villa removed to decorate his own Villa d'Este.
Since 1999 the villa is an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

At the entrance of the villa there is a big model showing you how it was when was built.

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famous for its water system, the architecture of its gardens, the pavilions, the artificial caves and the fountains.

the famed Tivoli water-and-wind garden, a haven for princes and lovers of the humanities, and arguably the most beautiful villa in all of Italy.

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