A Treasury Around Rome: The Villa Adriana

A first visit to Rome can become bewildered by the endless list of monuments, archaeological sites, museums and other historical attractions of all time there to visit. Few cities in the world focus so much history per km. square as the Eternal City.

But not all tourists know Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli, about 20 km. south of the city. This is an impressive archaeological heritage but also an oasis of peace and nature, ideal after several days of tours through the streets of Rome.

Many Roman emperors built their palaces individuals, beginning with Nero and his Domus? Urea, which is now being slowly excavated. But Villa Adriana is somewhat different. It is the dream of stone and the shelter of an emperor traveler, philosopher and worship. Even today, in ruins, conveys the mindset of this man, humane and cruel at the same time accurate reflection of classical antiquity.

Hadrian hated the city of Rome, so eventually he built his palace at Tibur, now called Tivoli. Your villa is actually a collection of outbuildings and overlapping, in a way harmonious disorder. We know from excavations and contemporary chroniclers each part or area of ​​the town was subject, relating to the territories of the Empire that Adriano had visited in person during the course of his travels.

Walking among the ruins today imposing and silent in his distinguished more or less visible two spaces, the canopy and the Serapeum, which apparently were inspired by Egypt. It also invites us to contemplate and reflect the so-called Maritime Theatre, a huge pool with an island in its center, on which was a library in which it seems that Adriano had taken refuge when finished also hated by the court that he had to accompany their stays at Tibur.

Today there are more than proud brick walls and columns, shows the strength of Roman architecture. Surrounded by stunning nature, emit an immense peace and tranquility, especially in winter, outside the tourist season. Hard to imagine that most of the town was covered in marble and mosaic floors.

The Villa Adriana was abandoned, forgotten, almost untouched by barbarian invasions until the Renaissance, in which the Cardinal Ippolito d'Este, son of Lucrezia Borgia, thoroughly looted it to decorate his own palace-sanctuary nearby. Therefore, after the visit to the village and to get an idea of ​​the splendor that must have in his day, should also visit the Villa d'Este next, where you will find many of the statues and mosaics looted from Villa Adriana.

What you will find other treasures in the Vatican Museum or in the Capitoline Museum in Rome. The rest, all to no avail marble and antique cardinals of the Renaissance, was burned in lime kilns. Still, the breathtaking Villa Adriana bare walls, built 1800 years ago, invite reflection on an era of Western history before sinking into the darkness of superstition and darkness of centuries to come.

To visit the Villa Adriana can hire a tour at any travel agency or at the front desk of most hotels in Rome. But if you want to completely immerse yourself in the magic of this site and delve into the personality of the great Emperor Hadrian, we advise you on a tour notes theme by experts in history or archeology.