One of the most-advertised half-day activities in Rome is taking a guided tour of Hadrian’s Villa and the Villa d’Este (the two sites nearly always go together). The bus leaves from Piazza della Reppublica and takes you right to Tivoli, the modern name for what the Romans knew as Tibur, about 30 kilometers north-east of Rome.
Tibur
Tibur is remarkable for being the place where the Aniene River spills down the Sabine hills in a 160-meter waterfall. Perhaps for this reason, from very early times, the place was revered and two temples were built at the top of the falls. One of these may have been dedicated to Vesta, the other to the Tiburtine Sybil, a prophetess who provided important divine sanction in cases of political uncertainty.
Apart from its sacred associations, Tibur would have been an attractive getaway for other reasons. One of these was ease of travel. In the first place there was the Via Tiburtina, a paved road that had been built over an ancient transhumance route from the Appenines to the Tiber Valley. Mostly flat and well maintained, it would have been a relatively short trip from the capital especially if you were being carried along in a chariot. In the second place there was the river Aniene itself, which was used to transport Travertine marble and other goods to the capital, as well as human passengers.
In addition to its convenience to Rome, Tibur was paradise compared to the crowded, stinky, hot, noisy, mosquito-ridden and fire-prone capital. The water was pure, the summer heat was mitigated by hilly breezes, streams, and forest shade. No wonder, then that, during the Roman Empire, this peaceful and picturesque spot became a favourite luxury resort for emperors.
Hadrian
Hadrian (76-138) was born in Spain to a wealthy Roman family. At the age of 10 he was sent to Rome under the care of Trajan, who later became emperor. Trajan and his wife Pompeia Plotina took care of Hadrian’s education, encouraging his interest in Greek art and literature. Trajan also mentored Hadrian and helped get him military appointments. In 117, when Trajan died, Pompeia Plotina named the young man as her husband’s heir.
Hadrian is now known for several things. Most importantly, he had a beard. Apart from that, he was openly gay, he adored Greek culture, he liked travel (spending 12 years out of his 21-year rule away from Rome), and his hobbies included architecture and poetry. Also, he had a savage temper and once accidently put out a servant’s eye after throwing a stylus at his head in a fit of rage. He also genocided the Jews in anger at the Bar Kokhba revolt.
In the year he became emperor, he married Vibia Sabina. Although it was not a love match, they stayed together for nearly forty years and she often travelled with him when he went abroad.
While he accorded Vibia Sabina the respect due to an emperor’s wife, she was definitely not the love of his life. That honor went to a Bithynian boy called Antinous, who was probably 13 when Hadrian first clapped his eyes on him. They met in 123 and for seven years were more or less inseparable. Antinous travelled with him and in 125 moved into his Roman villa. They lived happily until a fateful trip to Egypt in 130.
On this trip, Antinous drowned in the Nile and no one is quite sure what happened. Was he pushed? Was it an accident? One story that has gained a lot of support is that Antinous sacrificed himself in order to cure Hadrian of some mysterious illness. Whatever the reason, Hadrian was later distraught. He founded a town called Antinoöpolis and deified his lover, creating a cult that had so many adherents it was at one time a rival to Christianity.
These days, Hadrian is probably best known for his building projects. Everyone’s heard of his wall: 120 kilometers with 16 or 17 fortifications that must have dismayed the Picts considerably. He restored the Pantheon and designed and built the Temple of Venus and Roma, the largest temple ever constructed in the capital. He sponsored public works like markets and aqueducts and, as Aelius Spartianus (Life of Hadrian) says, in almost every city he visited he built some building and held games for the public.
By far the grandest and biggest of his building projects, though, was the Tiburtine Villa.
The Villa
Tibur, as we have seen, was a lovely spot and would have been particularly inviting in summer. Rich Romans then, as now, deserted the city for cooler, healthier climes. Hadrian chose to build his summer villa here. His was no tumbledown cottage but a massive estate spanning 200-250 acres and comprising more than 30 major building complexes. The buildings were clad in luminous marble and decorated with mosaics, frescoes, and decorative tile work.
The villa was big enough to host hundreds of guests at a time. Vibia Sabina had her own section of the estate where she and her ladies could do their own thing and Hadrian didn’t have to be bothered with her. Likewise, there was a section devoted to the living quarters of his praetorian guards and their horses. There was almost a whole underground city, a system of tunnels that slaves used to cross from one building to another carrying food, provisions and whatnot. There were luxurious baths: one for the bigwigs and another, less ornate, for the poors.
Apart from that, there were libraries, a swimming pool, formal gardens, fountains, temples, a stadium, a theater, and elaborate indoor and outdoor dining rooms.
The Villa and Hadrian’s Travels
Hadrian travelled extensively throughout the Roman empire and kept his eye out for lovely objects and architectural inspiration.
One of his favourite places of all was Egypt, and influences from that country could be seen everywhere on the grounds, probably most obviously in the so-called Obelisk of Antinous, which now stands on the Pincian Hill in Rome. Another, striking, Egyptian homage is the Canopus, a big rectangular tank of water resembling a canal and surrounded by caryatids and statues of crocodiles and the personification of a river.
Interestingly, modern research has suggested that several buildings were built to take advantage of astronomical effects according to the season and time of day. For example, there is a building known as the Antinoun (Hadrian’s shrine to his dead lover), in which artwork suggests the dead man was identified with Osiris. Appropriately, and following Egyptian custom, the building was oriented towards the constellation of Antinous (which Hadrian invented and which is now part of Aquila). Similarly, in a temple to the goddess Isis (the “Roccabruna”), the deity’s statue was so placed as to be lit by the sun at sunset on the summer soltice.
Hadrian’s Art
Most of the artwork that used to grace the villa was taken long ago and has either disappeared or sits dispersed in the world’s museums. A list of known works can be found here, and it’s possible to view an interpretation of the whole effect by watching visualizations such as this one by the Digital Hadrian’s Villa project.
Among the treasures taken were a set of three mosaic panels depicting bucolic scenes, which originally decorated the so-called Hall with Three Aisles.
A statue of a youth:
And these three Egyptian statues:
That’s only a tiny fraction of what used to be there though.
Is it worth it?
I’ll be honest, it is a pretty exhausting hike and quite hard to visualize what the villa was like just by viewing the ruins, especially because it’s been so extensively stripped; the marble cladding and mosaics have been removed and you only see the bare brick. And nothing remains of the furniture or the people. Nevertheless, you do get a sense of the massiveness and the insane wealth. And there is always something charming about ruins being overgrown, in my opinion.
