January 13, 2026

January 13, 2026

This morning we are doing something a little different. We are letting somebody else do the driving and planning. We signed up for a daytrip 20 miles east to the town of Tivoli. We walked east to our meeting point and found our group and loaded on the bus.

A half hour later we arrive at the World Heritage archeological site of Hadrian’s Villa. Emperor Hadrian didn’t like living on the Palatine Hill Palace in Rome. Probably not the least because Rome had a bad habit of assassinating Emperors. So like Nero, he had a mega-mansion built, but out here at the base of the mountains in 120 AD. After a steep walk uphill we arrive at the map room that has a model of what archeologists think it looked like.

Like all Roman sites, most of the nice decorative elements were removed and recycled into new buildings. We will see one later. This left only the substructure that was eventually buried by debris. We pass the long wall of the enormous elongated Pecile, which seems to have been some kind of covered walking path. The base structure is Opus Reticulatum (Work of Netting), which was diamond shaped Tufa blocks pressed into concrete. We passed the Tufa quarry on the drive. Apparently this was ideal for construction by unskilled (eg slave) labor. Every time Rome won a battle they enslaved the losers.

We next visited the Maritime Theater. It is a small island house surrounded by a ring-shaped colonnaded pond. Supposedly Hadrain liked it as a spot to meditate and relax. The size and quantity of these facilities meant Emperors had no fiscal restraints.

We next visited the small and large Thermal Baths. Incredibly some of the dome-shaped rooms still stand but just barely.

The last major site we saw was the Canopus which was a long reflecting pond surrounded by columns, some of which are female-shaped (Karyatids). Aimee and I walk the length to the Serapeum Fountain at the far end.

We then have some free time to visit the tiny museum, divided into two separate floors. Humorously the female guard shooed us away from the exit door. We walk the fifty feet around to the entrance where she greets us. Makes no sense. The few statues that weren't looted are here. The well-traveled Hadrian must have liked Egypt as the collection includes a Nile Crocodile.

Back on the bus we drove uphill into the little hill town of Tivoli. We have ninety minutes for lunch. We walked around but found it difficult to find an open sit down restaurant. So we ended up at a pizzeria again. It was better than the Vatican. After lunch Aimee was disappointed to find almost every store closed for lunch. Welcome to small town Italy. Instead we walked out to the town park for a nice view over the valley towards Rome.

At 1:45 pm, we met up again with our guide for a tour of Villa d’Este. This was a 16th century city estate built by Cardinal Ippolito, a member of the powerful d’Este family. We learned about his older sister Isabella, the art patron in Mantua several years ago. His brother was the Duke of Ferrara, who married Lucretia Borgia. Another sister married the Duke of Milan. Ippolito was named a Cardinal at the age of 14. That probably tells me everything I need to know about the Catholic Church in those days. No wonder Martin Luther easily created the Protestant movement.

We first walked quickly through some of the rooms of the large palace. Most are gaily painted with frescoes but of mild interest. The grounds of this hillside estate is the reason for its World Heritage status.

The backyard is a garden of fountainly delights all powered by the water pressure coming off a reservoir in the hills above. We first visit a large fountain that has a walkway behind it. We next visit a stone fountain that has a hidden organ. At 2:30 a door opens and we are supposed to hear a water driven organ play. But this is Italy and it fails to operate.

We then walk to the overlook of the hillside Neptune Fountain that faces three long fish ponds. Aimee and I then walk down to take photos of the fountain reflecting in the pools.

We finish by returning up hill passing the very long Hundred Fountain, which easily has more than 100 spigots. This visit was a delight and would probably be even nicer in the Spring or Summer.

Back at the top we load on the bus for the short trip back to Rome.