Tivoli

I'm taking an art history class called the Art and Architecture of Rome, and every week, we have one on-site meeting (things like museums, churches, or sets of ruins) and one lecture. However, this week we also had an all-day outing to Tivoli on Friday, since none of us normally have classes on Fridays. We met up with our class early in the morning and our professor (who looks like Johnny Depp) led us on a bus up into the foothills of the Appenine Mountains, which are about an hour outside of the city. Tivoli is now a pretty normal town, but it has two amazing places that take you back to ancient Rome: the Villa Adriana and the Villa d'Este (which is more Renaissance Rome, but whatever).

The Villa Adriana is the name for the complex that was where the Emperor Hadrian made his home when he was emperor of Rome. Now it's mostly in ruins, because much like the Forum, materials from the villa were taken to be used in newer buildings (some of the materials from Hadrian's Villa ended up in Villa d'Este). However, even in ruins, the villa was still amazing.

The Villa Adriana housed Hadrian and the majority of his court, and it was where he did most of his emperor business when he was in Rome. He actually spent a lot of time outside of Rome while he was emperor, and he didn't like being in the city at all.

The entrance to a "secret" underground road used by slaves
to carry supplies in and out of and around the villa.

What's left of a temple that used to be there

Ruins of a fish pool that Hadrian had built for himself

My favorite part of the villas... remains of a large swimming pool
 that originally would have been surrounded by these
columns, arches and statues! It was beautiful.

A wall that surrounded a large courtyard

 After we were done at Villa Adriana, our professor took us down into the modern-day town of Tivoli for lunch. We all split up but he ended up at the same restaurant as us, so of course we invited him to sit with us so he didn't awkwardly sit by himself right next to our table. He then proceeded to drink basically an entire bottle of wine and a glass of grappa before he led us on our next outing to Villa d'Este, so that definitely made the afternoon pretty interesting...

Villa d'Este absolutely blew me away. It was built by a cardinal who was appointed as the governor of Tivoli, and he absolutely spared no expense. We didn't spend much time inside the buildings themselves, because the gardens are breathtaking.

Some of the beautifully preserved frescoes

Marble floors made with marble taken from Villa Adriana 

The main building from outside in the gardens 

A view of the gardens from the villa

Part of a fountain called "Little Rome" with pieces that represent different
parts of Rome. This is Romulus and Remus being fed by the she-wolf. 

View of the countryside and Rome from the top of the gardens... we could actually
see all the way to the dome of St. Peter's! 

One of the many amazing fountains