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Villa d'Este
From the square where we park we see a XV century fortress, the Rocca Pia, built by Pope Pius II. Tivoli has numerous antiquities and mediaeval structures, but its main attraction is the Villa d'Este with its fountains. This villa was the creation of Cardinal Ippolito d'Este of Ferrara, son of Alfonso d'Este and Lucrezia Borgia; a shrewd diplomat who played an important role in the political and ecclesiastical events of his time, and gained the Cardinal's hat; in 1550 he received the governorship of Tivoli. The place didn't have much to offer to a man brought up in the splendour of a princely court, and with an inborne taste for art and refinement, so he started immediately to build his magnificent palace, out of an old Benedictine cloister adjoining the medieval church of S. Maria Maggiore. There he would be surrounded by artists and men of culture, and following the fashion of the great Roman families of the XVI century, he had his pleasure gardens laid out on the slope of the hill, for which an entire section of the town was demolished. On the spacious terraces of his villa the Cardinal and his humanist friends would stroll, discussing the works of the classical poets. The plan of the villa was designed by Pirro Ligorio and was carried out by G. Galvani; the fresco painting decoration was executed by G. Muziano, F. Zuccari and L. Agresti, and the sculptures, with which the gardens were adorned, were supplied by the excavations from the neighbouring Villa Adriana. Sculptors and engineers contributed to the instalment of fountains, water falls and pools, and to feed them, two canals were dug to collect the water of the Aniene and of the Rivella. The fountains still work on the original hydraulic system.
Passing through the XV century courtyard of the Benedectine monastery, we'll go down to the lower apartment, crossing the central hall, with frescoes by Muziano and Zuccari and a pretty fountain, with simulated rocks and mosaic works. Just outside this room an extensive view of the old part of Tivoli, opens up and away in the distance are the towns of Sant' Angelo Romano and Palombara. Walking down the paths lined with trees, we'll discover the magnificent fountains which have made this place unique in the world. The most spectacular of them are: the Fountain of Rometta (Fountain of little Rome), decorated with midget reproductions of famous ancient Roman buildings: the walk of One Hundred Fountains, with the long wall of the avenue turned into a fantasy of ships, obelisks, eagles and fleur de lis (these latter are a part of Este's coat of arms); from them water jets fall into the lower level; the Fountain of the Hydraulic Organ, is the culmination of the gardens of Villa d'Este, a marvel of hydraulic engineering. This fountain could play music when the water passed through the pipes of a huge organ. When we are at the bottom level we get a better idea of the size of the cypress trees, the tallest in Italy.
On the central axis of the gardens, at mid level, is the Fountain of the Dragons; the statues of the dragons, were, according to tradition, put there overnight, when Pope Gregory announced to the Cardinal his intention of visiting the villa in 1572. The dragon was on the Pope's coat of arms.
The Fountain of the Ovata has a most theatrical effect; in it the work of man merges with nature with the greatest harmony
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The Villa remained the property of the d'Este family until Ercole III d'Este left it to his only daughter Maria Beatrice, wife of the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria and thus the Villa passed to the Hapsburgs, and then in turn to the Hohenlohe family. In the last century extensive hospitality was given in the Villa to famous Austrian artists, Franz Liszt among them. At the beginning of World war I the Italian State confiscated it, finding it neglected and deprived of its most valuable ornaments. Restorations gave the villa its original aspect and the waterworks were repaired. In the recent years the water jets have been floodlit (four days a week from April to October).
