June 4, 2012: Ancient Rome: Colosseum, Palatine Hill, the Forum
	June 2, 2012: Rome, Italy: Day Two
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Today, Frederico and Gaspar are going to take the three of us on an excursion outside of Rome to the hill country town of Tivoli. There, we will explore the town and visit the Villa d'Este.

The Trip to Tivoli

As a result of our dinner discussions last night with Frederico and Gaspar, they thought that one thing we really should see outside of Rome was the town of Tivoli, and the famous Villa d'Este. We had actually already thought of that as a day excursion destination back when we were planning our cruise and time in Italy. So we were pleased that the locals thought it worthwhile. Frederico and Gaspar offered to take us up there in their little Fiat, and just after noontime they picked us up at the apartment and we headed off with Gaspar at the wheel.

Tivoli (classical "Tibur") is an ancient Italian town about 20 miles ENE of Rome. It is situated at the falls on the Aniene River where it comes out of the Sabine Hills and flows down onto the Roman Campagna (as the area around Rome is called). Being up in the hills there are excellent views of the countryside below. It reminded me very much of Fiesole, outside Florence.

I can't be sure of the actual route we took through the city, since I wasn't driving and since, outside the bounds of the area of Rome we'd been walking, I wasn't familiar with the major streets. I do know that Gaspar drove us east from the apartment through the city to reach the expressway that circles Rome. There, I do recall he got on another expressway that headed east, and as near as I can tell he just followed the signs to get to Tivoli.

We were grateful for the ride up there, but I can tell you that I wouldn't want to carry five people in that little Fiat routinely. Oh, sitting up front was fine, but squeezing three of us into the back seat of the two-door car (Fred, Greg and I) was indeed, well, a squeeze. Fred kept his camera in his lap so he was able to take some pictures out the car windows, but my camera was in its belt case, and it was so difficult to get to it and take it out that I just let Fred do the honors on the ride up.

Fred would be the first to admit that he wasn't able to get any really good pictures from the car. The little back windows were really small, and taking pictures through the front windshield required the zoom to crop Gaspar and Frederico and the rear-view mirror out of the picture. This made the pictures a bit fuzzy. But I want to include at least some of the pictures here; in one of them you can see an aqueduct that we paralleled for a time. Use the clickable thumbnails below to have a look at these pictures:

The road we took off the expressway wound westward into the center of Tivoli, quite near Villa d'Este. We found a parking space alongside the Piazza Trento, just southeast of Villa d'Este.

Cato the Elder is cited as the source for the story that the city was founded by Catillus the Arcadian, who came there having escaped the slaughter at Thebes with his sons. He drove out the Siculi from the Aniene plateau and founded a city he named Tibur in honor of one of his sons. The more historical account mentions traces of a settlement in the area dating back to the 13th century BC. The city's name may share a common root with the river Tiber and the Latin name Tiberius.

From Etruscan times Tibur, a Sabine city, was the seat of the Tiburtine Sibyl; there are two small temples above the falls, the rotunda traditionally associated with Vesta and the rectangular one with the Sibyl of Tibur, the water nymph who was worshipped on the banks of the Anio. In the nearby woods, Faunus had a sacred grove. During the Roman age Tibur maintained a certain importance, being on a main road across the Apennines.

At first an independent ally of Rome, Tibur allied itself with the Gauls in 361 BC. Vestiges remain of its defensive walls of this period. In 338 BC, however, Tibur was defeated and absorbed by the Romans. The city acquired Roman citizenship in 90 BC and became a resort area famed for its beauty and its good water, and was enriched by many Roman villas. The most famous one, of which only ruins remain, is Hadrian's Villa, but Maecenas, Augustus and the poet Horace had villas here as well. In 273, Zenobia, the captive queen of Palmyra, was assigned a residence here by the Emperor Aurelian. The name of the city came to be used in diminutive form as Tiburi instead of Tibur and so transformed through Tibori to Tiboli and finally to Tivoli.

Tivoli changed hands a few times in the latter half of the first millenium, but from the 10th century onwards Tivoli, as an independent commune governed by its elected consuls, was Rome's rival for control of Lazio. Although it fell under papal control in the 11th century, it managed to remain mostly independent until the 15th. To maintain that independence, walls, a fortress and tower houses were all necessary. During the Renaissance popes and cardinals did not limit their embellishment program to Rome, and erected buildings in Tivoli also. In 1461 Pope Pius II built the massive Rocca Pia to control the always restive population, and as a symbol of the permanence of papal temporal power here.

From the 16th century the city saw further construction of villas. The most famous of these is the Villa d'Este, a World Heritage Site, whose construction was started in 1550 by Pirro Ligorio for Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este and which was richly decorated with an ambitious program of frescoes by famous painters. In 1835 Pope Gregory XVI added the Villa Gregoriana, a villa complex pivoting around the Aniene's falls.

But Tivoli was anything but peaceful. It was sacked in 1527 by supporters of the emperor and the Colonna, occupied in 1547 by the Duke of Alba, occupied in 1744 by the Austrians, almost destroyed by the flood of 1826, and severely damaged in 1944 by Allied bombers. But it has risen each time, and today, its reputation as a stylish resort and the fame of the gardens of the Villa d'Este have inspired a great deal of tourism- and not just a few imitators.

Walking Through Tivoli at Lunchtime

It was almost one-thirty when we got to walking around Tivoli, so after walking up and down some of the charming little streets for a short while, we started looking for a place to get some lunch- and, of course, a coffee. Like many of the European cities and towns we've been in, residences are close together in buildings that, to us, would be ancient. And everyone who could, it seemed, had a balcony garden.

Pretty quickly, we did find a nice little sidewalk cafe on a narrow side street (see inset picture at left) and we sat down for some lunch.

We had taken some interesting pictures around the old town of Tivoli before we stopped for lunch; we had walked kind of aimlessly looking for a place to eat. You can use the clickable thumbnails below to have a look at some of the typical Tivoli scenes that we encountered:

When we were done with lunch, we walked up to the end of the street to Villa d'Este, bought tickets and went in.

Villa d'Este: The Villa

Villa d'Este is famous in two respects. First, the villa itself is a work of art, having been decorated by many of the most famous artists of the time when it was built. Second, its gardens rival any private garden that I have ever visited. To try to manage the pictures we took a bit better for this photo album, we'll look at all the pictures we took in the villa itself in this section, and then tour the gardens in the next.

A Short History of Villa d'Este

A Fountain in the Gardens

On 9 September 1550, Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este (1509-1572) arrived in Tivoli, having obtained the post of governor of the town. The Cardinal came from the cultured background of the Court of Ferrara and had immersed himself in humanist studies. He was therefore an erudite and cultivated art patron who was surrounded by famous artists, painters, silver- and goldsmiths, musicians and poets. The residence assigned to him in Tivoli, part of the monastery of the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, did not suit him. He therefore decided to build a splendid villa with gardens.

The church and monastery stood at the top of a hill, with slopes covered in gardens, vineyards, and a few houses and churches. The cardinal, who was removed from the circles of power in Tivoli and Rome for a while because of simony (1555-59), needed a little over ten years to buy the land, demolish the buildings and prepare the land for gardens. Time was also needed to ensure a water supply- both for the villa and for the planned fountains. An aqueduct was built, but turned out to be inadequate. Finally, an underground canal was dug beneath the town to harness the waters of the Anio river (1564-65). Once the water supply had been ensured and its flow made possible by the natural gravity created by the different levels of the garden, work started on constructing the fountains, ornamental basins, and grottoes and on laying out the landscape.

A Decorated Room in the Villa

During this period the old monastery was converted into a villa and the original cloister was modified to become the central courtyard, its south-east wall being that of the old church of Santa Maria Maggiore. The pace of the decoration work for the palace speeded up between 1565 and 1572, the year in which Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este died. Much of the work remained unfinished and many of the fountains for the garden still had to be built.

Cardinal Luigi d'Este (1538-86) inherited the property from his uncle but his financial resources only allowed him to complete the work already started and to carry out a few repairs. After the Villa d'Este was placed at the disposal of the Dean of the Holy College of Cardinals, it returned to another cardinal of the house of Este in 1605, Alessandro (1568-1624). He wasted no time in starting a huge programme of work, which included completion of many of the interior rooms as well as many innovations to the layout of the garden and the decoration of the fountains.

The maintenance, restoration, and layout works continued under the Dukes of Modena and Cardinal Rinaldo I (1618-72); the Cardinal brought in Bernini to work on the fountains and garden and the architect Mattia de Rossi to continue the work inside the palace. When the Cardinal died, however, and Rinaldo II (1655-1736) inherited the property, work slowed a great deal. The situation worsened when the complex passed into the hands of the Hapsburgs in 1803. However, Cardinal Gustav von Hohenlohe (1823-96) rescued the villa from what might have been an irreversible loss. In 1920 the Villa d'Este became the property of the Italian State, which undertook one campaign of restoration from 1920 to 1930, and another to repair the damage caused by bombing in 1944.

Today, the property is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is overseen and maintained by a commission of the Italian National Government, with help from private donations and UNESCO.

The Courtyard

If you look at the aerial view, you can easily spot the courtyard, which was just inside the main entrance.

The Courtyard Fountain at Villa d'Este

The sixteenth-century courtyard borders three sides of the villa; the fourth side, on the south, is a wall of the former Benedictine cloister. On that wall there is a fountain framed within a Doric, which contains a sculpture of a sleeping nymph in a grotto guarded by d'Este heraldic eagles, with a bas-relief framed in apple boughs that links the villa to the Garden of the Hesperides.

I made a movie looking around the courtyard, and you can watch it with the player below:

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible) The Courtyard at Villa d'Este

Although it was taken on our way out of Villa d'Este, rather than when we arrived, I want to include an interesting picture of Fred relaxing by a potted plant in the courtyard. And Fred took some other pictures around the courtyard of some of the sculpture niches in the walls of the villa itself. You can use the clickable thumbnails below to look at some of these pictures:

Before we look into the individual rooms, a few words about the villa building. The plan of the villa is irregular because the architect was obliged to make use of certain parts of the previous monastic building. On the garden side the architecture of the palace is very simple: a long main body of three storeys, marked by bands, rows of windows, and side pavilions that barely jut out. This uniform facade is interrupted by an elegant loggia in the middle, with two levels and stair ramps, built by Raffaello da Firenze and Biasioto (1566-67). The main rooms of the villa are arranged in rows on two floors and all have windows that open out to a view of the garden. The private apartment of the cardinal, consisting of four rooms, is on the same level as the courtyard, at the northeast end of the building. The other rooms of the villa, which take up two levels, are linked together on each floor by a long corridor. The more private rooms are on the same floor as the courtyard, while the reception and other public rooms are on the lower level. On the lower level, the corridor is called the "Manica Lunga."

For our tour of the inside of the villa, we'll simply take a look at rooms of the Cardinal's apartment and then the other individual rooms on the courtyard level. After that, we'll head downstairs to look at the reception and other rooms on the lower level. This will end up giving us access to the patio above the garden.

The Room of Noah

The central main entrance leads to the Appartamento Vecchio ("Old Apartment") made for Ippolito d'Este, with its vaulted ceilings frescoed in secular allegories by Livio Agresti and his students, centered on the grand Sala, with its spectacular view down the main axis of the gardens, which fall away in a series of terraces. Entering this salon via the courtyard, you are actually going north, and the gardens are in front of you. I did not enter the villa that way, though. There was another entrance on my right from the courtyard, and I went in there.

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible) The Cardinal's Apartment

This led me to a suite of four rooms that formed the nucleus of the Cardinal's apartment; these rooms occupied the northeast wing of the building on the courtyard floor. At the northeast corner was the Room of Noah (the Cardinal's main living/reception room); the other three rooms extended to the southeast in a row. These were the Room of Moses (an antechamber/study), the Cardinal's Chamber (his bedroom) and the Cardinal's private chapel. I made a movie of the first three rooms, beginning in the Room of Noah and walking back through the other two. You can watch this movie with the player at left.

The Room of Noah, being on the corner, had a double view- one to the main gardens to the north and another to a "secret garden" to the east- originally rich in fountains and antique statues. (Hardly anything of any of the original furnishings and statuary remain from anywhere in the villa.) Surprisingly, it is only here, in the Cardinal's apartment, that the frescoes and paintings are of a religious character. The fresco in the vault's central panel depicts the alliance following the cessation of the Deluge. God appears to Hoah, who addresses Him in prayer; to the right is a group of animals, amongst which we can distinguish a large white eagle, the emblem of Este, while the Ark appears on Mount Ararat in the background- crowned by a cupola. Most of the ceilings and walls in the villa are totally covered with frescoes in addition to the central scenes in the ceilings and on the walls. Here, in the Room of Noah, this was also true, as evidenced by one of the ceiling's corners.

The Room of Moses

Moving back into the Room of Moses, we find that the frescoes here are linked conceptually to those in the previous room. At the center of the vault is Cesare Nebbia's (1536-1614) "Moses Striking the Rock," from which pours forth the water that quenches the thirst of the people of Israel in the desert. This episode is an evident allusion to the Cardinal, who caused new fountains to gush out from the arid and stony slopes of the Tiburtine mountains.

This room also looks out onto (and once had a connection to) the secret garden. On the back wall, tying in to the theme of "Moses Striking the Rock," is an arched cornice with rich decorations of plants in stucco containing the remains of a small rustic fountain. Within the fountain was originally a white marble statue of a woman, and next to her, in similar marble, was a deer, appearing from a cavern in the fountain. At the sides of the grotto, two other feminine statues on travertine pedestals poured water into the basin.

The Cardinal's Chamber

This chamber was the bedroom of the Cardinal. Its adornment, most likely also by Nebbia and his assistants, presents richer ornamental elements than the other rooms in the apartment; it is very colorful.

Two sets of Virtues: Abundance/Piety & Truth/Peace

The high frieze is embellished by the sixteen feminine figures of "Virtue," identified by inscriptions. Arranged in pairs and seated, they sustain the plainly elegant oval cornices, devoid of ornamentation, surmounted by winged putti (cherubs) with apples and garlands of fruit.

The magnificent coffered wooden ceiling was engraved in 1569. Divided into three major octagonal panels and three minor hexagonal ones, it features in the octagons the crest of Cardinal Ippolito and his emblem- an eagle with the motto: "Ab insomni non custodita dracane" (derived from Ovid). The motto is a reference to the victory of Hercules over the perpetually vigilant dragon Ladone, who watched over the garden of the Hesperides nymphs. This was the location of the tree with the golden apples; Hercules put the dragon to sleep and took three of them.

Actually, one of the interpretations of the entire garden outside the villa makes reference to this myth, as a garden of Hesperides dedicated to Hercules, the mythical forefather of the house of Este, and namesake of the most prestigious ancestor of Ippolito- Ercole I d'Este.

The Cardinal's Chapel

The private chapel of Cardinal Ippolito was a small rectangular area in the most reserved section of the apartment. Its decoration, with the exception of the fresco over the altar, was carried out between 1568 and 1572 at the considerable expense of over two hundred ecus (about $20,000 today).

The Altar and the "Madonna della Ghiara"

Its decoration includes illusionist architecture comprising fluted Ionian responds on a polychrome marble base; from within shallow niches four Prophets and two Sibyls emerge prominently. At the center of the vault, the "Incoronation of the Virgin" appears alongside other Marian scenes. The monochrome panel above the small window is the "Presentation to the Temple," while in the niche to the right of the altar is the "Death of the Virgin."

Appearing at the center of the barrel vault above the altar is the "God of Glory with a Choir of Musical Angels," decorated in stucco.

The fresco above the altar is a later work, a copy of the renowned "Madonna della Ghiara." In 1596 the work figured in a miraculous event tha tenormously enhanced its popularity. The work that originally occupied that spot was a painting commissioned by the Cardinal of the Assumption; this work remained above the altar until 1771.

Use the clickable thumbnails below to see some other examples of the richly colorful artwork in the Cardinal's Chapel:

The Antechamber

This space separates the Cardinal's apartment from the Upper Salon; it was decorated at the same time and by the same artists who decorated the apartment itself.

The Vault of the Antechamber

The decoration bears a compositional organization analogous to that of the salon; in the frieze, a complex framework of oval cornices in stucco flanked by sixteen "Virtues," identified by inscriptions, pay homage to the cardinal, to whom the four angular heraldic motifs in stucco refer (the crowned white eagle with a branch of golden apples).

The vault is based on four mixtilinear tablets, surrounded by grotesques painted on a white background, in which the decorative elements blend "antiquarian" taste with the taste for a whimsical and fantastic form of expression. Within cross-shaped cornices are small landscape scenes inspired by Tiburtine antiquity. In the central portrait of the vault the crest of Cardinal Ippolito appears.

The Upper Salon

The Upper Salon adjoins the apartment of Cardinal Ippolito. Looking out from the highest terrace on the central loggia, the wide-ranging panorama encompasses the gardens. The ornamentation, starting with a high frieze along the walls and continuing into the pavilion of the vault, was begun in 1568; the seven major panels of the valult and the ovals of the frieze remain incomplete.

Vault and Frieze in the Upper Salon

The complex system of allegoric correspondence celebrates the moral endowments of the Cardinal, to whom the stucco emblems at the four corners of the salon refer.

The frieze below the vault features a succession of twenty figures of "Virtue," alternated with elegant oval cornices in stucco which ought to have contained portraits or emblems of illustrious men; each "Virtue" is identified by an underlying inscription and by the symbolic object held in the hand of the winged "Genius" above.

In the cloister vault, four panels on the long sides represent Tiburtine landscapes with the temples of Hercules and the Sibyl, bridges, ruins and watercourses; the short sides feature four ovals with the "Four Seasons" within refined grotesques. The incomplete portraits at the center of the vault are framed by a frieze adorned by festoons of flowers and fruit, with the fleur-de-lis and eagles of Este- a theme that carries to the small illustrations above the doors.

Use the clickable thumbnails below for some additional views of the Upper Salon:

The First Tiburtine Room

This room is dedicated to the foundation and the first legendary accounts of Tivoli.

Vault in the First Tiburtine Room

On the walls is illusionist architecture of composite columns on a base of polychrome marble. The major portraits portray, on false tapestry, episodes related to Tivoli's origins. On the wall above the fireplace is the "Battle of the Tiburto Brothers, Catillo and Corace, Against the Siculi," imagining the conquest of Sicletum- later named Tibur.

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible) In the First Tiburtine Room

On the adjoining wall appears "Ercole Saxanus" kneeling before a group of armed men. The episode relates to the abduction of the herd of Gerione, the tenth labor of Hercules; he is defending them against attack with the help of Jove, who from a cloud hurls stones at the aggressors. Hercules thus became a protector of both Tivoli and the Este household.

Between that wall and the next it seems there is a doorway, but it is only trompe d'oeil- as is the dog reaching up to grab the door pull. I assume even serious artists are not immune to flights of whimsy.

On the southwest wall is the "Sacrifice of the Brothers After the Victory." On the sides, in false niches, appear various divinities. Higher up are small pictures with scenes of the Tiburtine territory and the Villa d'Este (to the left of the window we can see the Ovato Fountain still in construction).

In the center of the vault is another painting depicting Catillo, Corace and Tiburto, and on the sides are four other scenes of the foundation of Tivoli: "The Sacrifice Offered by the Three Brothers" (where omens are seen in the lightning from the sky), the "Sacrifice for the Foundation of Tibur" (which has Tiburto tracing the perimeter of the city with a plough), the "Construction of the Walls" and the "Construction of the Buildings."

One other notable image in the room symbolizes the creation of a stable water supply for the city; two mythical figures in a pastoral setting are providing the water. You can have a look at that painting here.

Going downstairs now, we come out in front of the main salon, so let's stop in there first.

The Salon

The main Salon is called the "Fountain Salon," for the small rustic fountain placed against the northeastern wall. Covered in mosaic and enamel, the fountain is dedicated to the city of Tivoli, which is represented in bas-relief in the central niche by two landscape elements representative of the city- the ancient ruins, with the Temple of the Sibyl, and the waters, which, flowing among the rocks now gone, supposedly fell into the basin below.

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible) A Look Around the Fountain Salon

The pictorial decoration of this hall, as in the nearby Room of Hercules, was executed beginning in 1565 by a team of six artists. The paintings illusionistically expand the space, not only along the perimeter of the walls, where a false loggia with spiral columns opens onto landscape views, but also upwards, where a perspective colonnade frames the background sky, the theatre of the "Banquet of the Gods", a fresco inspired by one in Farnesina.

Among the views on the walls, painted in 1568, some are particularly important for the history of the Villa d'Este, as they portray landscapes or details of trhe garden and fountains. The large fresco on the northeastern wall testifies to the progress of the works in the palace in 1568, before the lateral wings were added, and shows the garden "as it should have been." On the wall to the right of the door is painted the Fountain dell'Ovato and the Cento Fountain, while on the two extremes of the wall towards the garden there are two views of the Fountain dell'Organo (the one to the right shows the fountain before the 17th century changes and the one on the left, retouched several times, shows its present state. Use the clickable thumbnails below to see some of these views:

At the center of the four sides of the vault, decorated with grotesque figures, stucco frames contain scenes from sacrifices to Apollo, Diana, Ceres and Bacchus. In the oval frames on the borders, four paintings of gods on chariots symbolize the four elements- Neptune (water), Jupiter (air), Pluto (fire) and Juno (earth). On the corners, the stucco coats of arms of the Cardinal are to be found near pairs of the gods.

After looking at all the artistic representations of the garden, visitors to the room can look out the window to see the real thing.

The Room of Hercules

This room celebrates the deeds of Hercules, the hero of Tivoli and legendary forefather of the House of Este. The pictorial decorations in this room were the first in the palace- along with those in the adjacent Salon.

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible) The Room of Hercules

Use the movie player at left to take a first look around this room; then you can read a summary of what you saw.

On the walls, an elegant partition of Corinthian borders frame openings, whether real or illusions, of doors and windows. Landscape scenery is framed at the center of the walls; it shows ruins and rustic architecture.

The "Twelve Labors of Hercules" are portrayed in the lower part of the vault; these were the famous tasks Hercules was assigned to overcome in order to be welcomed among the Gods. A "labor" appears on every wall in an oval portrait set in scenery; there are two other "labors" at the sides.

At the four corners are the stucco crests of Cardinal Ippolito, sustained by a pair of winged cherubs and surmounted by four cornices with the "Cardinal Virtues."

The fresco at the center of the vault represents the epilogue of the myth- the "Apotheosis of Hercules." The hero, who is welcomed in the assembly of the twelve major divinities of Olympus (thanks to his labors) is shown with his back turned, with th eskin of the Lion Nemeo on his back and his arms resting on his bludgeon. References to Hercules, conqueror and thief of the Golden Apples of the Hesperides, is a strong and constant element in the decoration of the villa and gardens.

The Room of Glory

Decorated between 1566 and 1568 by Federico Zuccari and his assistants, this room was probably restructured in later years, its ornamentation bearing the mark of multiple superimposed figurative elements.

"Justice"

The vault revolves around the exaltation of the virtues which consent the fulfilment of Glory, in origin symbolically portrayed in a fresco in the central portrait, now missing; all around, within oval and octagonal cornices in stucco, are represented the allegorical personifications of "Magnanimity", "Fortune", "Time" and "Religion". In particular, in the representation of "Fortune", in the octagon next to the window, among the attributes of this virtue appear the cardinal's hat and papal tiara, alluding to the ecclesiastic career ambitions of Ippolito d'Este.

I made a movie here in the Room of Glory, and you can watch it with the player below:

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible) The Room of Glory

Six portraits are depicted on the walls with mock ancient busts and ample draperies opening up to frame, within cornices, the four Cardinal Virtues: "Justice", "Fortitude", "Prudence" and "Temperance".

Bringing back a recurrent theme in 15th century studies the walls portray an illusion of two wall cupboards with shelves- beyond the semi-opened draperies which allow us to view their contents. The contrivance serves to represent those objects linked symbolically to Cardinal Ippolito, among which appear once again the cardinal's hat and pontifical tiara. You can use the clickable thumbnails at left to see two examples of this illusionist artwork.

The Room of the Nobility

The pictorial decorations of this room, as in the Room of Glory, are to be interpreted as an allegorical celebration of the moral qualities of the House of Este and Cardinal Ippolito.

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible) The Room of the Nobility

The best way to appreciate this richly-decorated room is to use the player at left and watch the movie that I made here.

On the walls, an illusionist architecture of Ionian columns and polychrome marble encrustations frame allegorical personifications of "Virtue" and the "Liberal arts", of uncertain identification on a "pompeian red" background of refined antiquarian taste. Mock classic busts of illustrious men portray ancient philosophers and legislators such as Plato, Socrates and Pythagoras.

In the grotesque decoration of the vault are depicted the allegorical figures of "Honor", "Rerum Natura", "Opulence" and "Immortality." At the center of the vault the "Nobility" towers over an aerial canopy flanked by its handmaids, "Liberality" and "Generosity".

Use the clickable thumbnails below to see some views of the wall art and the central vault work "Nobility" (center picture):

At the four corners is the crest of Cardinal Ippolito with the white eagle, two branches of golden apples and the motto "Ab insomni non custodita dracane" (which again alludes to the eleventh labor of Hercules.

The Hunting Room

Land and water hunting scenes depicted in broad portraits lend this room its name.

The Hunting Room

The portraits are superimposed by four illusionist tapestries, alternating with hunting trophies (wild boar, deer, hare, birds) and festoons of flowers and fruit. Other smaller scenery are depicted in the emblasures of the door and windows. Emerging from the rest is an aristocratic deer‑hunting scene, with the beast being chased by the hounds in the waters of a river on which are mirrored Nordic residences and castles.

Among the scenes of different subjects are naval battles, shipwrecks and even a blaze, which introduces the fourth element of fire, integrating the preponderance of water, land and air. Particularly curious are the trompe d'oeil pictures in the doorway, with the monkey next to the vase of citrus fruit and the dog on a leash barking at a doe. Use the clickable thumbnails below to see some of the other scenes depicted in the Hunting Room:

The frescoes appear likely to have originated from the hand of an unknown scenery painter active in Rome during the first half of the 17th century.

The Arts and Crafts Room

Presumably intended as a study for the Cardinal on the lower level, this space was richly embellished in gold and silver corami, but probably devoid of pictorial decorations (except at the windows). From an inventory dated 1678, we know only of the presence of a painting on the ceiling, but it is presently missing.

The Arts and Crafts Room Frieze

In 1925, the villa having by then become the property of the State, a pleasant eclectic decoration of the frieze was added by the painter Notte (1891-1982). It is an attempt to establish a figurative assonance with the 16th-century decorations, maintaining the compositional and thematic layout of the spaces that preceded it.

Next to the neo-16th century cartouches with their medallions inspired from Tiburtine mythology we find, in place of the usual virtues or divinities, a series of twelve figures representing the arts and crafts corporations of Tivoli, flanked by a solemn figure leafing through the book of civic statutes. One can see, in succession, Carpenters, Stonemasons, Blacksmiths, Donkey Breeders, Carters, Grocers, Shoemakers, Merchants and Tailors, Millers, Butchers and Buttari. According to reports, real artisans, merchants and farmers from Tivoli posed for these figures.

At the top of the window niches in this room were an eclectic assortment of small frescoes, which are older than the frieze added in 1925. They are a diverse group; it seems that some of the "vibe" from the Hunting Room next door may have spilled over into this one. You can use the clickable thumbnails below to have a look at some of these small artworks:

The Tomescu Scrocco Donation

Born in Bucharest in 1886, Virginia Tomescu completed her training in Paris and Rome. Around 1915 she moved to Tivoli with her husband, the physician Amedeo Scrocco, and soon made her new home a meeting place for the area's artists and intellectuals.

These were intensely active years for her, marked by a great many exhibitions in Italy (Milan, Turin, Genoa, Rome) and Romabnia. Very soon, Tivoli's landscapes and countryside dotted with monuments took priority in Ms. tomescu's art. These themes are often presented alone, but they also form the background for studies of figures, as in the portrait of the painter and scholar Stanislao Ferrazzi.

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible)

These scenes are often depicted together with typically social subjects as work in quarries and life in the fields. In the 1920s, Ms. Tomescu changed her style of painting; the "broken" brushwork inspired by Diviionism and absorbed during her youth spent in France now leaned towards the flowing and the descriptive.

However, color holds prominence in her works, which are enveloped in light and throb with brilliantly glowing flashes. The painter, who left her beloved Tivoli at the onset of World War II, moved to Rome when the conflicted ended. She died there in 1950.

Here in a hall at the west end of the villa are exhibited 14 of her paintings. They are here in Villa d'Este by the will of her heirs, the sons Eolo and Marisa Scrocco. I made a movie of almost all of them, and you can watch it with the player at left.

The viewing of the painting exhibition was the last part of our tour of the villa itself. Since were were on the lower level, we could go out to the loggia and from there take the stairs down to the patio overlooking the gardens.

The Loggia and Patio at Villa d'Este

When we were finished touring the amazing rooms and other areas of the villa, we came outside the back of the villa to the loggia and patio. Here we would leave Frederico and Gaspar to their coffee while the three of us went on a tour of the gardens.

The Patio as Seen from the Loggia

Coming out of the villa onto the small loggia, we were able to get wonderful views of the gardens; many of these same views were available from the many windows on both levels of the villa. On the patio below us, we could see a small fountain and another balcony off the main patio. The views from here was very nice; click on the thumbnails below to see some of them:

We took the stairs down to the large patio. At the western side of the villa there is a huge arch with a balcony on top; this arch was intended to allow access to the garden side of the villa by carriages. On the lowest level of the villa are the obligatory cafe and gift shop, and there were a surprisinhg number of people here (surprising in that we hadn't run into very many people inside the villa). It was here that Frederico and Gaspar (shown here with Greg) got a table so they could sit and wait for us to tour the gardens.

While Greg, Frederico and Gaspar were relaxing for a few minutes, I wandered around the patio taking some pictures of the gardens below and the Italian countryside beyond. There are clickable thumbnails below for a few of the best pictures I took:

Fred was also taking pictures, and he took quite a few good ones. There are clickable thumbnails below for six of the best of them:

After a few minutes, Greg, Fred and I headed off to see the Gardens.

The Gardens at Villa d'Este

We spent a couple of hours wandering through the gardens below the villa, walking this way and that. Usually, Fred and I were together, but there were times when we visited the same garden feature but not at the same time. Obviously, I'll group our pictures by garden feature. I thought I would construct an aerial view of the gardens and mark the features on it, but the aerial views available for Tivoli are not very good- certainly nothing like those for Rome. So I thought I would find a diagram of the garden and use that instead.

The best one I could find is from the brochure we got (actually, we didn't know it was there). It not only marks all the features (including some we didn't visit) but it marks a suggested route through the garden as well. It is a good diagram though, and I think I'll use it here. Although we did not follow the pathway suggested, we did visit most of the features indicated, so what I will do is ignore the actual path we took, and use the one from the brochure, organizing our pictures of each feature in the order of the suggested pathway. After all, you aren't really interested in our exact path anyway, not like you might have been in Rome.

If you would like to open a window containing the diagram of the Gardens at Villa d'Este, just click the small icon at left. The diagram will open in a separate window, and you will find our starting point (#12) on the balcony of the villa at the top right of the diagram. When we get back to the villa from our walk through the gardens, I'll remind you so you can close this window.

So let's begin our tour of these lovely gardens on the loggia above the garden.

Grand Loggia and View of Garden (12)

We'll begin where we left Frederico and Gaspar to their coffee- on the Grand Loggia.

The Garden as Seen from the Grand Loggia

To get to the loggia we had come out the lower level of the villa to a small loggia, where we could see the Grand Loggia (patio) below us. We also had wonderful views of the Italian countryside stretching away to the north. I'd gotten a bit turned around when we arrived, and originally thought the garden extended down the hill to the west, so that we'd be able to see Rome, but that wasn't the case.

We came down the stairway to the Grand Loggia, and that is where we found the little cafe and gift shop. And it was from here that we had a charming view of Tivoli.

The Fountain of Leda and Tripod (13)

From the area of the cafes, we walked northeast along the backside of the villa to come to the Leda Fountain and grotto which is actually underneath the small loggia above. There is a statue of Leda in the grotto, with three water jets; on either side there are stucco statues in niches.

The Tripod

Out in the sunlight in front of the Leda Fountain is a smaller fountain known as The Tripod (seen here from a vantage point partway up the stairs). From here, one has excellent views out into the garden.

There is a balcony just in front of the Tripod, and when you go to the edge to look over, you are treated to a beautiful view looking down into the garden.

The Fountains of Europa and Pegasus (14)

We actually came by these two fountains just before we left the gardens, but I'll move the pictures here so we can follow the diagrammed route (if you have opened that window).

The Fountain of Europa The Pegasus Fountain

The Fountain of Europa is in the northeast corner of the garden; it looks like a triumphal arch, formed by two overlapping rows of columns, Doric and Corinthian, which define a niche within which was placed a sculpture of Europa embracing a bull. That sculpture is no longer here; it is now at Villa Albani in Rome. The Greeks believed that Zeus fell in love with Europa when he saw her and decided to seduce her so he became a white bull. Europa got onto his back and Zeus took her out into the sea to the island of Crete. All that remains in the niche now is a very small water jet.

Nearby is the Fountain of Pegasus. It consists of a circular tank, in the center of which is a large rock on which stands the statue of the mythical winged horse Pegasus. The composition recalls the story of Pegasus, who arrived on Mount Helicon and, banging his hoof on the ground, created the fountain Hippocrene, sacred to the Muses.

Cardinal's Walk (15)

Back at the center of the villa building, by the Tripod Fountain, there are matching stairway/ramps that lead down into the garden. We walked down the stairway on the eastern side to arrive at a narrow portion of the garden- below the loggia/patio but still above the main garden area. Here, we found a shaded, plant‑lined walkway that ran parallel to the villa itself. The walk gets its name from certain references to Cardinal Ippolito's habit of walking along this path frequently as the gardens below were being constructed. One side of the walkway was a balcony overlooking the rest of the garden, and in the middle of that balcony, there were once again matching stairways that led down into the garden.

The Oval Fountain (Fountain of Tivoli) (16)

Taking the eastern stairs down from the Cardinal's Walk, we came to The Oval Fountain.

The Oval Fountain (Fountain of Tivoli) (as seen from the Cardinal's Walk)

The Oval Fountain is one of the main fountains in the garden, and is located halfway up the hillside on the northeastern side. It marks the beginning of the large waterway which ends to the southwest with the Rometta Fountain. It is the beginning of the complex scheme that runs all the fountains in the garden. Water was brought through an underground aqueduct to a point just above this fountain- the highest point in the garden. Then, as they say, it was all downhill from there. Water conduits radiate out in two directions- on across the garden to the west, ending at the Rometta Fountain, and supplying the Hundred Fountains and the Owl Fountain as well. Another conduit heads northwest to supply the Organ Fountain and the Fountain of Neptune, as well as the Fish Pools and other smaller fountains in the central area of the garden. Water from here even supplies the Diana fountain at the northern side of the garden.

The Oval Fountain is oriented perpendicular to the central axis of the garden. It is a complex water theatre, featuring a semi-oval excedra nymphaeum, grottoes, artificial mountains and, in its enclosure, various nymphaeums.

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible) Looking Around the Oval Fountain

Coming down the stairs to stand at the front of the base of this beautiful fountain, the first thing I did was to make a movie. Use the movie player at right to have a look around the Oval Fountain (and try not to disturb someone you might see taking advantage of the romantic setting.

There are two more still views Fred took of the fountain that I would like to include here; use the clickable thumbnails below to have a look at them:

The large oval basin is enclosed on its rear side by an exedra with arches and niches, in which are to be found ten peperino statues of nymphs, almost hidden by vegetation. They support vases from which jets of water fall into the basin. Other smaller jets spring from cups placed on the balustrade, while water fans issue from the vases located in the arches. The most spectacular waterwork is located in the middle of the exedra, where from a crater- on which jets in the shape of lilies spring- a thundering cascade overflows.

On the upper level of this fountain is the artificial mountain, made of calcareous tufa. Here, vegetation clings, hiding terracotta water pipes, today totally clogged, from which water dropped among the rocks. At the foot of the mountain open three grottoes from which three rivers flow. At the center is a sitting statue of the Tiburtine Sibyl and her son, sculpted in travertine. At the two sides are statues of the river gods Herculaneus and Anius.

After pouring into tree basins located below the statues, water flows into a canal along the upper perimeter, enclosed by a travertine balustrade, which is composed of transennas alternating with vases.

The Cento Fountain (The Hundred Fountains) (17)

Beginning in front of the Oval Fountain, there are three waterways symbolizing the rivers Herculaneum, Albuneo and Aniene; these flow in the three superimposed canals of the Cento Fountain. With its long, flowing front, it crosses the whole garden.

The Hundred Fountains (Cento Fontane)

The nymphaeum on the facade bear a resemblance to the Republican-age fountain located on the Appian Way at Formia, with long straight basins and rows of faucets. Small boats, obelisks, Estense eagles and lilies of France (from which fan-shaped jets of water spring) alternate along the border of the upper canal. Water then flows into the lower basin by means of the small canals located in between sculptures. You can see all of this in the picture at left, and you can clearly see the three levels involved here.

From there, water falls into the last basin by means of the spouts placed in the mouths of the masks decorating the external surface. These masks were really interesting, and where the vegetation had not covered the wall, the masks really stood out. The weeds that cover the fountains and the significant lime deposits flattening decorations make it impossible to gauge the deterioration of the original sculpting. The masks seemed all different (which, of course, they all would be since they were sculpted by hand, not machine) but some of the differences were striking. Use the clickable thumbnails below to see three examples of these different masks:

The photographs taken towards the end of the 1800s (when the water did not flow constantly) show that even then the bas-reliefs with seenes from Ovid's Metamorphoses that had been placed in the squares of the upper canal, and the mosaic decorations with marine monsters on the intermediate channel (described in artifacts from 1576 and 1611) were almost gone.

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible) Walking Along the Hundred Fountains

I made a movie walking along the Hundred Fountains (which were pretty amazing), and you can watch it with the player at right. And below are clickable thumbnails for some other good views of the Hundred Fountains:

Originally, 22 small boats alternating with terracotta vases crowned the upper canal; however, during the restoration of 1622, eagles and lilies were added. Another restoration was carried out in 1685 and, since then, the fountains have been restored countless times- the last one in the 1930s. There are fifty fountains on either side of the central walkway that leads from the villa to the back of the garden, and even looking down a row of just fifty of them was pretty neat.

On our actual walk, we traversed the entire length of the Hundred Fountains to arrive next at the Fountain of Rome, and from that end of the Hundred Fountains, I got a look back at all 100 of them. But just to keep the pictures organized, I'll adhere to the path marked on the garden diagram and assume that we walked back to the east again so we could go north through the gardens to the Fountain of the Organ.

The Fountain of the Organ (18)

The diagram has a rather odd route, but we will stick with it. At the east side of the garden there are two fountains, one above the other. The Fountain of the Organ is the higher of the two (and the Fountain of Neptune is below). The diagrammed path visits the upper fountain first, then returns to the center of the garden to approach the Fountain of Neptune from its base.

The Fountain of the Organ

The construction of the Organ Fountain began in 1568 and was finished in 1611; it is clearly Baroque, so really different from the Renaissance style of the rest of the Villa.

From the "architectonic" point of view in the high part there is a very high building with Baroque lines and decorations. You can see this building in the composite picture at left; the pictures was created out of four separate shots (that's why the perspective is off). It was impossible to get far enough back to get a good look at the entire fountain at once. On the front side there is a balustrade of small columns and, just under it, an oval basin. The fountain begins in the central building- in its central niche. In that niche there was supposed to be a statue of "Fortune" or of "The Goddess of Nature".

Then the project was changed and and the fountain was made part of the gardens' boundary walls- not far from the original entrance of the Villa. The statue that was to be in the central niche (the decoration on the underside of the half dome that shelters the niche was quite nice) was either removed and used elsewhere, or perhaps never executed at all. In the two lateral and smallest niches, two statues were placed- one of Apollo and one of Diana; the Diana statue was later replaced with a statue of Orfeo.

From the balustrade, which is above the top level of the Fountain of Neptune, there is a great view west across the gardens.

Even without another suprising addition that was made, the little building was really a beautiful one.

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible) The Fountain of the Organ

As I usually do at places so unique, I like to add at least one movie to my collection of pictures. You can use the player at right to watch the movie I made of the Fountain of the Organ.

Cardinal Alessandro decided to modify the central niche and to build in its place a little "temple"; the temple would shelter the hydraulic organ that had been commissioned to be installed there. There is a sculpture on top of that building, but I have not been able to discover who or what the sculpture represents. As you can see, though, it is in the domed niche that was originally to hold one large statue.

That commission for the organ itself was given to a Frenchman- Claude Venard. He had invented a device based on which the fall of the water regulated the escape of the air from the organ-pipes while in the same time an other device lowered the keys. So the fountain actually played itself.

At the time, this feat was extraordinary. Even such a luminary as Pope Gregory XIII, who came to the villa in 1573, was fascinated. At some point, the organ ceased to work, and was left inoperative for a great many years. Some years ago, when the State took over the Villa and Gardens, efforts were made to restore the organ to its original function. These efforts were recently successful, although the organ does not play continually. When it does, the original charm of the fountain- and the Villa- comes back.

Along side my picture of Fred at the balustrade with the gardens below, I want to include four more pictures that he took here at the Organ Fountain. They show some of the intricate detail of the building and its fountains and you can use the clickable thumbnails below to have a look at them:

The Fountain of the Dragons (19)

From the Fountain of the Organ, the indicated path brings us back a bit south and out into the middle of the gardens for a look at the Fountain of the Dragons.

The Fountain of the Dragons

A popular misconception is that the Fountain of the Dragons got its name from the sound the water makes going through it- sort of a crackling noise alternating with a whoosh of water. Actually, however, it was because of a visit that Pope Gregory XIII made to the Villa; this influenced the Cardinal and one of his designers to create a monument with the four winged dragons. This was because the Boncompagni family used the dragon as their symbol, and Pope Gregory was a Boncompagni.

The fountain is in the hemicycle formed by the double circular stair that comes down from the avenue of the One Hundred Fountains. Under the balcony of that avenue there is a niche, with an enormous statue of Hercules. The overlooking fountain is adorned with four dragons placed in the base and in circle. They spit out water and there is also a high jet of water in the center of the circle (hence the noises that the fountain makes).

The fountain is particularly spectacular and for this reason it has been placed in the greater axis of the park; other small statues and fountains were placed elsewhere so as to underline the importance of the fountain.

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible) The Fountain of the Dragons

As you can see in the picture above, there are stairs up to a landing overlooking the fountain, and we went up there to have a look at from that vantage point. There, I made a movie of the fountain, and you can watch it with the player at right.

There was also a good view from up there looking out across the garden The Fountain of Dragons represents the eleventh effort of Hercules who kills the hundred-headed dragon in order to get hold of the golden apples of the Garden of the Hesperides and give them to Euristeo.

Ippolito II and his family were particularly interested in this demigod. In fact, some boys of the family took that name (Dukes Ercole I and II, for example). The founder of the Villa also adopted the motto "ab insomni dracone" ("the beast is ever-vigilant"), and we've already seen this motto interwoven into some of the rooms of the villa. The Cardinal wanted his garden to contain statues and fountains dedicated to Hercules, because as his friend Muret said: "the same apples that Hercules took away from the sleepy dragon now belong to Ippolito who, grateful for what he has received, wanted that his garden was considered sacred by the author of the gift".

From the Fountain of the Dragons, we went down the stairs below it that lead further into the middle of the garden.

The Fish Ponds (20)

The Fish Ponds (Seen from the Fountain of Neptune)

Cardinal Ippolito commissioned the design of the gardens to Pirro Ligorio, an expert in antiquities, who by order of the cardinal had made excavations at Villa Adriana, the villa built by Emperor Hadrian three miles from Tivoli. The ancient villa provided Ligorio with some ideas for Villa d'Este. The series of fishing ponds derive from Poikile, a very long rectangular pond along which the emperor loved to walk.

I thought the ponds- from above and and with the Fountain of Neptune as a backdrop- were very pretty, and, although the same view might be duplicated, I have put clickable thumbnails for six pictures of them below:

On a more practical aspect the fishing ponds provided Cardinal Ippolito who suffered from podagra (gout) with the only large section of the gardens which was not on sloping ground.

The fishing ponds were part of an axis which was perpendicular to that between the entrance gate and the palace. It was the most imposing part of the gardens, that which best showed the engineering skills of the garden designers and engineers- particularly Claude Venard, the French hydraulic engineer who developed the mechanisms for activating the fountains.

The Fountain of Neptune (21)

We had already seen the Fountain of Neptune from above, and now we got a chance to explore both levels of what is now called the Fountain of Neptune.

The Fountain of Neptune

In the picture at left, you can see the three levels of this fountain complex. At the top is the Fountain of the Organ (which we have already visited). Below that, behind the inclined "ramp of water" in the middle of the fountain, are what are called "Sibyl's Caves." And then, at ground level, is the actual Fountain of Neptune. Let's first take the walkway that goes up to that middle level to have a look at the "caves."

When we followed that walk to the middle level, we found that on either side of the huge lower fountain the walkway gave access to a ten-foot tower. Climbing up, the platform enabled us to look slightly down at the level of the caves, and see clearly how much of the water got down to the lower fountain- by means of the inclined ramp whose water issued from the pool at the base of the Fountain of the Organ. From this same point, we could also get a nice view looking up at the Organ Fountain.

Back down at the level of the walkway, we can see clearly how the terrace in front of the Fountain of the Organ is supported by three vaulted structures (the ramp is not part of that support); these are "Sibyl's Caves." These three nyumphaei are thematically and scenically connected to the fountain of the Organ by a cascade of water springing from the central cave.

While we were up here at the level of the caves, I made a movie of the Fountain of Neptune from above, and when we returned to ground level I made another movie from below. You can watch both of these with the movie players below:

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible) The Fountain of Neptune (From Sibyl's Caves)

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible) The Fountain of Neptune (From ground level)

The theme of the cascade was exploited by Bernini in 1661 when he filled the cliff face between the terrace of the Organ and the level of the gardens where the fish ponds were by means of a rock and vegetative structure. So he left a rough cascade, fed by the waters that began in the Fountain of the Organ and then flowed through Sibyl's Caves. This cascade ran pretty much without any maintenance for over two centuries and, over time, the rock and vegetative structure began to wear.

In 1927, Attilio Rossi was given the task to restore the lower portion of the water feature between the cave and the fish ponds. He did this by readapting the difference of level between the Fountain of the Organ and the fish ponds below to drive a spectacular fountain built at the garden level. This fountain became the Fountain of Neptune; it hides the entry to the Cave behind the main cascade and also by its high and violent spouting. Although it is a modern structure, it is one of the most famous fountains of the garden, especially because of its spectacular waterworks.

Fred doesn't take many movies, but he did take one from the bottom of the Fountain of Neptune; you can watch it with the movie player below:

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible) Fred's Movie of The Fountain of Neptune

The Rotunda of the Cypresses (22)

The Rotunda of the Cypresses is a circular square surrounded by four small travertine fountains.

It was built about 1640 to replace the lost octagonal wooden gazebo. The "fioroni," the flower-shaped stucco sculptures that were located in the middle of the tanks, as well as the statues built by the sculptors Venturini and Piranesi were destroyed in past centuries. The Rotunda was completely restored in 1986.

While we were down in this part of the garden, Frederico and Gaspar joined us for a while and I was able to get a group picture.

The Fountain of Diana of Ephesus (23)

The fountain of Diana of Ephesus is the only fountain at Villa d'Este that was moved after it had been completely installed.

You may remember our stop at the Fountain of the Organ earlier in the afternoon. At that time, we learned that the statue that was actually created for the center niche was not installed there; instead, the water-driven organ was designed and installed instead. I mentioned that the original statue was somewhere else.

Well, that somewhere else is here. This was the statue that was created for that prominent niche in that prominent fountain. The statue represented Ephesian Diana for today's archaeologists, but for Cardinal Ippolito and Ligorio, its sculptor, it was a symbol of Nature and Abundance. In 1611, however, Cardinal Alessandro d'Este overruled his now dead father. In a burst of propriety, he decided that it was not proper to give such prominence to the statue of a goddess; after all, Christianity admitted of no "gods and goddesses." Alessandro did not want to destroy the statue, so he had it moved it to a remote part of the gardens.

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible) The Fountain of Diana

So Diana resides here by the north (back) wall of the gardens. Just a bit east of her position, there is a walkway/corridor/grotto that leads to the back gate of the gardens and the town of Tivoli beyond. Along the west wall of this corridor there are a number of small grotto fountains.

I thought that a movie of this unique fountain might be interesting, and so I filmed one. You can watch it with the player at right.

The Stairs of Bollori (24)

As we mentioned earlier, the only flat place in the gardens is the center- where the fish ponds are. North and South of that, the garden is sloped. All of the walkways that go north and south in the gardens thus must have stairs, and the architect to designed them was named Bollori, and so all of the steps along all of the walkways are, collectively, called The Bollori Stairs.

These are not just stairs, but they are also integral garden features, for alongside most of them run little narrow watercourses inset into short walls- as if the walkways were framed by falling water. Although they held up quite well for centuries, it is necessary today to restore the travertine steps and the cascading fountains that accompany them.

Actually, about the only area devoid of interesting staircases was the back northeast quadrant, which was relatively flat. Everywhere else, though, Bollori had not only built the stairs but designed different watercourses to go with them. You can use the clickable thumbnails below to see some pictures of these stairways:

The Fountain of the Owl (25)

The Fountain of the Owl, like the Fountain of the Organ, was meant to not only be beautiful, but to entertain as well. The fountain gets its name from the entertainment it provides- entertainment that features an owl.

The Owlet Fountain

When the fountain was constructed, a hydraulic device that was built and installed that, like the organ, is "run" by falling water. The complex mechanism causes an artificial owl to approach some little bronze birds that are perching on an artificial branch in order to stop them from twittering. (The twittering is the result of pushing air out through the beaks of the little birds. These devices, hidden in the fountain, were invented so that the host could astonish his friends.

Like the Fountain of the Organ, however, the mechanism had, over the years, fallen into disrepair and stopped working. When the State became the guardian of the gardens, a group of artisans set out to recreate and then duplicate the original mechanism. They were successful in getting it to work again- more reliably and more efficiently than before. So the "voice" of the fountain has been restored.

In the center of the fountain, there is a niche with a small fountain inside it, and the water comes down from two levels, forming cascades. The niche and fountain are placed between two columns on which grapewines and gold apples rise, reminding viewers yet again about the connection between the House of Este and the legendary Hercules. And there is another small fountain adjacent to the main one.

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible) The Owlet Fountain

I made a movie here at the Fountain of the Owl, so that you can see the niche and the fountain inside it. You can watch this movie with the player at right.

On the top of the fountain, in the center, the shield of Ippolito II has been placed. It is supported from two angels; near those angels there are two feminine statues. The highest part of the fountain is adorned with two big lilies and an enormous eagle, all symbols of the d'Este family. The space in front of the fountain is delimited with a wall, and it is also adorned alternatively with lilies and eagles. It presents some niches of different dimensions that allow the access to the other avenues and fountains.

The Fountain of Rometta (Little Rome) (26)

While some of the fountains in the Gardens here at Villa d'Este are spectacular (e.g., the Fountain of Neptune) or innovative (e.g., the Fountain of the Organ), the Fountain of Rometta is certainly the most fanciful.

The Grand Loggia and the Fountain of Rometta

The Fountain of Rometta is (or was), basically, a miniature representation of Rome itself- with some of the iconic structures, a miniature river for the Tiber, and various allegorical representations. Imagine the hotels of Las Vegas, and the lengths to which they go to recreate cities or structures; that's what this fountain was- only on a much smaller scale.

But why was it done? Scholars are pretty sure, based on surviving documents, that the fountain (actually a series of them) were intended to be a stand-in for Rome itself. Oriented as it was, all the rooms of the palace faced north and they enjoyed a commanding view over the gardens and the countryside beyond them. But none of the rooms had a view of Rome (even though had they faced that way, Rome was so far away and the buildings so low that the view would not have been good in any case). For this reason, Ligorio, the Cardinal's designer, came up with two offsets. First, he designed the Grand Loggia, that gigantic triumphal arch at the southwestern end of the villa. We saw it earlier; that's where we left Frederico and Gaspar.

Ligorio envisioned that Cardinal Ippolito and his guests could dine under this arch (it was close to the kitchen) and watch the sunset over Rome. But that didn't solve the problem of not actually being able to see the Eternal City. The solution? Build a "symbolic Rome" (the Fountain of Rometta) immediately below the arch. It included a personification of Rome (the she-wolf and Romulus and Remus), a reproduction (in miniature) of the Tiber Island, and various miniatures and other representations of Roman sights. Enough so that anyone looking at it would understand quite well what it was.

Sadly, the fountain is today a shadow of its original self. You can compare the pictures we took with the original design (taken from the archives of the Tivoli museum) shown at right.

You'll be able to pick out the ship in the Tiber; the central fountain/statue of Rome; Romulus, Remus and the she-wolf; and a few other landmarks. But, certainly, much of what must have originally been here is now gone. Besides all the principal buildings of Rome and the island of the Tiber, there was the famous group of the lion and horse. The fountain basin was a rectangular sarcophagus of white marble with figures of men and animals fighting. It was quite spectacular, I'm sure.

When I compare the pictures that we took, I am amazed that so much is no longer here; accounts are that much of the fountain was demolished in the 19th century; or perhaps, like some of the other fountains in the gardens, it simply deteriorated.

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible)

I made one movie, standing at the end of the line of the Hundred Fountains, just looking around at this large complex. You can watch that movie with the player at left.

As far as still pictures go, we did get some good ones. From the open area at the base of the fountain you can still see some of the representative buildings, and, because it was close to us, there were also good views of the Roman ship representing the island in the Tiber at Rome.

There are a few more pictures worth including that show the complexity of the fountain from different angles; you can use the clickable thumbnails below to have a look at them:

This was our last stop on our tour through the Gardens of Villa d'Este; as advertised, they were pretty incredible- not so much for the landscaping or the horticulture, but for the amazing water features. Fred was in hog heaven. But we returned to the loggia and relaimed Frederico and Gaspar and then went off to spend some additional time in Tivoli itself. If you have the garden map open in its little window, you can close that window now.

Afternoon in Tivoli

It was a pleasant Sunday afternoon, so we thought we might just wander through Tivoli some more before returning to Frederico's car and the trip back to Rome.

At left is the same aerial view of Tivoli that you saw earlier. This afternoon, we'll walk through the old part of Tivoli for a while, and then head south towards Rocca Pia Castle. From there, we'll head back to Piazza Trento and the car.

We began in the small plaza just outside Villa d'Este. The Villa, you'll recall, backs up to a church- the Chiesa San Francesco. Outside, there is a monument to the saint. We headed up the street to our right (south), heading towards Piazza Trento. There, we found one of Tivoli's main streets- Via del Trevio- and we began walking east into the old city.

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible) The Church of St Biagio, Via del Trevio

Tivoli wasn't like Rome; there weren't iconic buildings or monuments every block or so. Just a small Italian town on a Sunday afternoon.

We took a few random street scene pictures that turned out well- all of them along Via del Trevio. Click on the thumbnails below to have a look:

If you'll use the player at right to watch the movie I made when we got near the Church of St. Biagio, you'll hear the church bells ringing for Mass. Built in the XII century, the church of San Biagio was much smaller than the current one, which was the result of a renovation in the 14th century. The church lasted pretty much unchanged until it was severely damaged in the Allied bombings in 1944. The bells were temporarily put into an iron enclosure placed to the left of the church facade while renovations went on. Today, the church conducts Masses in English and Italian.

Fred was making one of his infrequent movies at the same time I was filming mine; in fact, you can hear my narration in his movie. But while you can only hear the church bells in my movie, you can see them in his.

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible) The Bells of San Biagio Church

You can use the player at left to watch the bells of San Biagio in action.

From the church, we continued to wander for a while through Tivoli, and then headed up the hill towards Rocca Pia Castle. As we came to the top of a street called Vicolo Todini, right on the corner I noticed a police station, and for my nephew Ted's benefit, snapped a picture of the police car parked out front. And across the street, between us and the castle, was the Amphitheatre Bleso.

The amphitheatre was discovered in 1948 during the construction of a road (just like Frederico told us); because of the ruin, of course, the road was never built. There had been references to an amphitheatre in Tivoli in ancient writings, and during the excavations two plaques were also discovered. They related that an M. Tullius Blesus had contributed gold coins and manpower to build the facility in the 2nd century, and also that an M. Lurius Lucretianus would fund a "venatio" (fighting men with beasts in a simulated hunting) as well as gladitorial combat in the amphitheatre.

Amphitheatre Bleso and Rocca Pia Castle

Little remains of the actual building, although we know it was oval in shape, 200 feet long by 150 feet wide. The outer wall was decorated with half-columns; these also supported the steps and seats around the central arena. There was also a corridor around the entire arena, under the seats, that had a barrel vault. The excavation was made difficult (and the discovery postponed) by a decision in the 1400s that the walls of the amphitheatre, then fallen into disuse, would be knocked down and filled in so that attackers of the castle could not hide in the ruins. On top of the ruins, Cardinal Ippolito (of Villa d'Este fame) constructed a hunting park. The remains of a paved road around the area are still visible.

In the 1600s, the land passed to Cardinal Cesi, who transformed the area into a vegetable garden, and an expansion of the fort resulted in one of its four towers being built on top of the amphitheatre's remains.

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible) Amphitheatre Bleso and Rocca Pia

Recent excavations, notably in 1991-92, uncovered relics of ancient, medieval and modern times, and much of the earth covering the ruins was carted off. Quite a bit of pottery were found, as well as evidence of an actual ceramic factory on the site. All these artifacts are preserved in the National Museum in Rome. Today, the amphitheatre is used for public events such as fashion shows, plays and concerts.

As you can see in my movie (use the player at left), there had been some sort of activity here this afternoon (or perhaps one planned for later). Arrayed around the walls of the amphitheatre were what appeared to be replicas of Roman military equipment, but I am not sure why.

Fred took some pictures close up of some of these items; they certainly don't look actually old- more like something you'd see in a movie of the times.

In any event, there didn't seem to be anyone around we could ask, so what was going on remains unknown.

South of the amphitheatre, and adjacent to it, is the fortress of Rocca Pia. The fortress, built on the place where Callisto II Borgia's Castle was situated, derives its name "Pio" from Pio II Piccolomini, the Humanist Pope, who in July of 1461 became the first Pope to visit Tivoli and who arranged for and financed the construction of the building.

Rocca Pia Castle

The purpose of the building was to control the inside of the city, in order to prevent any eventual popular revolts and the access to the Valley of the Aniene. In fact, with this construction the new Pope planned to stop the outbreaks of violence by the people of Tivoli; because of this, the building is seen as the beginning of the end of the medieval period in Tivoli. The Pope had also envisioned the eventual subjugation of the powers of the State to the power of the Church.

We know quite a bit about Pio II, and about the work executed to build the Rocca. The adjacent Roman amphitheater of Bleso was levelled so as not to give shelter or hiding places to the enemies, and the massive wall of the medieval city was raised in the north part, adding a gate defended from a bastion; that spot is today occupied by a restaurant.

The fortress of Rocca Pia has four towers of various dimensions joined together with massive walls crowned with hanging bows inspired by the medieval architecture. Spaces for weapons are visible along the walls. The two greater towers (120 feet and 80 feet) are situated towards the outside for the defense from an external attack. The diameter of the greater one is 40 feet; it contains 6 rooms. The diameter of the other is about 30 feet with 5 rooms. The two smaller towers are opened towards the inner courtyard in order to control the inside of the fortress and the city. These towers are shorter- 60 feet and 50 feet- and each contain three rooms. The walls were very thick because, at the time of construction, powder was coming into use. The entrance to the castle was via a drawbridge, located on the north side. On the portal, the Latin inscription reads: "I am here, for you, oh Tivoli, loved from the good people, hated from the bad ones, enemy for the arrogant ones: Pio II wanted all this".

During the 1700s, the Rocca was occupied by French and Austrian troops and then it was used as prison and barracks. In the period of Napoleon, the building continued to be used as a prison, and a factory was built near the north wall. From that point, the Rocca continued to be used as a prison until 1960.

From the fortress, we made our way back to Piazza Trento where we relaxed for a bit in the afternoon sun- and idea shared by a good many other folks as well. I took a couple of pictures of the piazza and stitched them together in a small panorama; it is below:

Piazza Trento in Tivoli

With that, our visit to Tivoli came to an end, and Gaspar drove us back to Rome. We all had dinner together that evening, for tomorrow Frederico and Gaspar would have to go back to work. We might see them again tomorrow night, but I am not sure. You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.

	June 4, 2012: Ancient Rome: Colosseum, Palatine Hill, the Forum
	June 2, 2012: Rome, Italy: Day Two
	Return to the Index for Our Week in Florence and Rome