TIVOLI
lazio
Tivoli is an ancient Italian town in Lazio, about 30 km from Rome. Ancient Latin town with the name Tibur, called by Virgil with the title of Tibur Superbum (Eneide, Book VII) that still now appears in the town coat of arms, it boasts to be more ancient than Rome (1265 BC). The archaic settlement was born and strengthened on the left bank of the Aniene river, where the acropolis and ancient buildings rose, taking advantage of the dominant position above the ford that was the shortest journey for the transit of the flocks between the Tevere river and the Abruzzo region, along the way that will become the present "Via Valeria". The fact that the ancient Tibur was a point of confluence of various populations (above all Sabines and Latins), is confirmed by the existence of the big social sanctuary of Hercules Victor, classic latin hero deified, the ruins of which are dated to II century BC, but that it can be easily gone back to a more ancient place of common cult of populations that met to trade. Settled the legal department with Rome in the IV century BC, and recognized Tibur as Roman town council with the "Lex Iulia Municipalis" in the I century BC, Tivoli became also a place of a lot of villas of rich Romans, as the various ruins testify. Those known and identified still today are attributed to Orazio, Cassio, Quintilio Varo, Manlio Volpisco (the ruins of which are incorporated in the present "Villa Gregoriana"). The peak of these settlements were represented by the "Villa Adriana", in the II century. In the Middle Ages Tivoli was episcopal seat and deeply involved in the feudal struggles. Always jealous of the one's own freedom, but grip between the Roman Barons and the Benedictine Fief of Subiaco, to escape from the episcopal property took sides with the Ghibellines, but this didn't spare it to part continually in factions and remain hostage of the struggle among powerful Romans, like the Colonna and the Orsini, to return finally, in the XV century, in the property of the Church.
The Roman Amphitheatre of Bleso
The Amphitheatre was discovered in 1948, before this date we had only some informations. From two epigraphes from the II century AD, we knew that a certain M. Tullius Blaesius spent 200.000 "sesterzi" (the ancient roman coin) to open the Amphitheatre in the half of the century. In 184 AD M. Lucius Lucretianus announced here some ancient games; in the Middle Ages, some documents mention a fundum Amphiteatrum. The hope to find the Amphitheatre was howevere minimum, as Pio II in the "Commentari" remembered its destruction in combination with the building of the near "Rocca Pia". The structure of the Amphitheatre was leveled on the foot of the fortress to eliminate every shelter by possible attackers. In 1948 elements of the northern curve and part of the oriental side were discovered; in 1957, the excavations were extended to the north-western side and the excavation of the arena started. Since the 1991 the works were steped up because the monument is inserted in the list of the projects for the requalification of the Tivoli territory. The Amphitheatre measures m 85x65 and the up structures are preserved as far as a maxim height of three meters. The arena (m 61x41) is enclosed by a continous passage 2,20 m wide. Nothing remains of the stands. The presence in the north-oriental sector of a paved pre-existent street, that was annexed in the construction, is interesting. The masonries are constitued from a mixture of mortar and crushed limestone, this buiding technique takes one's seat in the Hadrian period or in the ambit of II century AD.
The Cathedral of St. Lawrence
The Cathedral of St. Lawrence goes back to the V century. Various legends attribute the foundation of the Cathedral to the Emperor Costantino or to the Pontiff Simplicio, but we have the first written information on the existence of the church in the Pope Leone III's biography (791-816). The church was built on the ruins of the ancient Roman Forum, using again the site of the Roman "Aula" of which the apse is preserved, still visible in the oustide of the actual basilica. The old cathedral was rebuilt between the end of the XI and the beginning of the XII century, on the left side of the church was built a Romanesque bell-tower with two mullioned windows for side. A more radical transformation was made in 1635 by Cardinal Julius Roma, designed Bishop of Tivoli. The Baroque facade has a portico with three barrel vaults. The inside is formed by a single nave with numerous lateral chapels, inside one of these chapels is preserved the "Wooden Deposition", dating from the XIII century, a work of rare beauty which is a good example of medieval sculpture. In the main altar there are the mortal remains of St. Generoso, martyr and co-patroin saint of the town. The artistic wealth of the church includes also the Triptych of the Saviour, a splendid painting on wood dating from the XII century. The legend wants that it is accomplished by the Evangelist St. Luca, really it is dated to the XII century and, probably, it is a work that can be attributed to the Benedictine monks of Farfa Abbey.
The Church of St. Giovanni Evangelista
The Church of St. Giovanni Evangelista was erected at the beginning of XV century. Its importance is connected to the cycle of frescos, dated XV century, situated in the presbytery of the church and attributed to "Perugino", "Pinturicchio" or to "Melozzo da Forlì".
The Church of St. Sylvester
The Church of St. Sylvester goes back to the XII century. In romanesque style, in origin it was composed by three naves with two line of 12 cipolin marble columns; in the XVII century the side naves were closed with masonry and the same columns were sold. Latern on, the left nave was demolished fro the widening of "Via del Colle". The main interest is caused by the presence of frescos, dating from the second half of the XII century, that decorate the triumphal arc and the apse, and that depicting the legend of the Emperor Costantine and St. Sylvester.
The Church of Santa Maria Maggiore
The Church of Santa Maria Maggiore was built by Pope Simplicio on the ruins of a roman villa, enlarged and radically transformed in the XII century later on the decision of Barbarossa to include the built-up area inside the town walls. Later on, in the XV century, the side arches were closed and replaced with round windows, while the main arch of the entrance was enriched with a nice gothic portal surmounted by a tabernacle, work of the sculptor Angelo of Tivoli. On the left side of the church, the bell-tower, rebuilt in 1590, stands. In the main altar, attributed to the architect Galvani (end of XVI century), a valuable painting on wood of the "Madonna delle Grazie" (Our Lady of the Graces), carried out by the franciscan painter Jacopo Torriti around the XIII century, is contained. The main important works kept in the church are put in the presbytery. On the left wall there is the triptych by Bartolomeo Bulgarini: in the central share is represented Our Lady sat in a throne when picks the Child up, in the right share is depicted St. Francis while in the left share there is St. Ludovico from Angiò; if we close the triptych, the depiction of the Annunciation appears us. On the right wall there is the most important work, the polyptych of the Virgin: this is divided in three main shares but is surmounted by a lunette and rested on a base divided in seven scenes (today only six scenes remain us).
The Rocca Pia
The Rocca Pia is a XV century fortress situated in the current heart of Tivoli. The building of the fortress in 1461 put the end to a period marked by strong conflicts of various kind for the town of Tivoli; lacerated for the contrasts between Guelphs and Ghibellines, as well as for the internal struggles between the descendants of the Colonna Family and Orsini Family, in the half of XV century the town was forced to soothe its secular aspirations of communal independence and finally to submit to the papal power. In July 1461, Pope Pio II (Enea Silvio Piccolomini), for the first time in visit to Tivoli, to make sure the faithfulness, gave the start to the construction, entrusting the works to the architect Niccolò and Varrone, both apprentices of Filarete. Initially the fortress was used for strategic-military aims, because of its quite favourable position and its proximity with the "Tiburtina". In the 1700 it was occupied by French and Austrian forces, but after the Napoleonic era (until the 1960) it was changed into a prison. The building, accomplished in local tufo, is formed by four angular battlement towers with circular shape and various dimensions, united with high massive walls, that delimit the space of an interior courtyard.
The Sanctuary of Hercules Victor
The Sanctuary of Hercules Victor, one of the large republican temples in Lazio, was built during the II century BC. This building had impressive dimensions, still visible though quite damaged, and it rose in a stretch of the ancient "Via Tiburtina". In origin the Temple, with rectangular plan (188x140m), measured 3000 m2 and consisted of three main share: the theatre, that takes advantage of the natural degradation of the ground, a large square with porticos and the real temple. A succession of terraces, porticos and colonnades created a magnificent scenery around the place of cult, according to the II and I century BC style. The Sanctuary was placed outside the town walls of Tivoli, along the way that, in ancient times, joined the Sannio to the roman plain and represented a crucial economic point for all the centre-southern italian populations. The ancient town of Tivoli gets into the cult of Hercules (Herculaneum Tibur) just in virtue of its strategic position and venerated him both as god-warrior (that had allowed the historic win on the Volsci), and as guardian of the commerces and the transit of the flocks, basic activity for the original town economic. The Temple put up one of the most important and good-attended boarding-school of musicians (tibicines) in Italy. The dances and the melodies of cult were celebrated in August. The structure of the Temple is similar to the structure of the sacred area of Palestrina, still good preserved and visitable.
The Temple of the Sybil
We don't know with precision the divinity whom the temple, in ionic style dating from the middle of the II century BC, was dedicated, if to Tibur or Hercules or Vesta or Albunea, the tenth Sybil. In the Middle Ages the Temple was transformed into a church, dedicated to St. George, and it was destined to the assistance and distribution of the charity to the poor men.
The Temple of the Cough
The Temple of the Cough is a construction from the roman age situated in the ancient "Via Tiburtina". It is near the Sanctuary of Hercules Victor and the lower share of "Villa d'Este". We don't know with precision the function that the Temple covered and when it was built. From the finding of a tombstone it seems that the building was erected in the first half of the IV century on the ruins of a I century BC roman villa, during the principality of Costantine I, to commemorate some works carried out in the "Via Tiburtina". Various suppositions are been advanced: perhaps it was a nymphaeum, or a temple dedicated to Venere or to Sun, or a sepulchre of the Gens Tuscia. The supposition that the temple was dedicated to the personification of the cough, erected outside the walls to keep far the illness, that was emerged during the Middle Ages, is without basis. In the X century the building was transformed into a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary and restored with material coming from the near Sanctuary of Hercules. Some frescos contained in its inside, even if damaged for the time, go back to the down Middle Ages. The Temple was probably left between the XVII and the XVIII century.
The Temple of Vesta
The Temple of Vesta is the most known monument of the ancient Tibur; since the 1700 it was the Temple that was most immortalized by italian and foreign artists. The Temple seems to be dedicated to Tiburno, the hero that had given the name to the city; whereas for others the Temple was erected to Hercules, the protector god of the ancient Tibur; others support that it was dedicated to Vesta; at last some people believe that it was built for the tenth Sybil, the known Albunea. The same divinities are suggested for the near rectangular Temple (Temple of the Sybil). The construction, attributable to the late republican age, was rebuilt, as results in an inscription on the architrave, by Lucio Gellio, "Duomviro" and Curator of the Public Works of Tivoli in the year 682 of Rome (I century BC). After the Temple was transformed into a Christian church with additions and adaptations; but in the end of the XIX century it is returned in its original form with the removal of all the "artificial" works. In origin the Temple was surmounted by a quite low dome, with large hole in the peak for the exit of the smoke of the sacred fire, with a little circular roof above the breather to prevent the entrance of the rain. The Temple is in Corinthian style, with a circular shape, completely surrounded by a peristyle of columns. The base is covered of travertine slabs. The architrave is decorated with a beautiful ornament, worked with meticulous care, composed by floral garlands, roses, clusters of grapes, spikes of wheat and fruit. From this place we can enjoy an enchanting view over the projections of the Aniene river and over the olive groves of Tivoli's hills. The round Temple of the Acropolis, named of Vesta, for the elegance of its lines and its picturesque scenery, is become the symbol of the town.
The Hadrian's Villa
The Villa of the Emperor Hadrian (or "Villa Adriana" in Italian), even in ruined condition, is one of the most spectacular Roman gardens of which it is possible still to get a sense by visiting the site. The villa was created at Tivoli as a retreat from Rome for Emperor Hadrian in the early II century AD. Hadrian was said to dislike the palace on the Palatine Hill in Rome, leading to the construction of the retreat. During the later years of his reign, he actually governed the empire from the villa. A large court therefore lived there permanently and a postal service connected them to Rome. After Hadrian, the villa was used by his various successors. During the decline of the Roman Empire the villa fell into disuse and was partially ruined. In the XVI century Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este had much of the marble and statues in Hadrian's Villa removed to decorate his own Villa d'Este located nearby. Hadrian's Villa was a complex of over 30 buildings, covering an area of at least 1 square kilometre (250 acres) of which much is still unexcavated. The villa was the greatest Roman example of an Alexandrian garden, recreating a sacred landscape. The complex included palaces, several thermae, theatre, temples, libraries, state rooms and quarters for courtiers, praetorians and slaves. The Villa shows echoes of many different architectural orders, mostly Greek and Egyptian. Hadrian, a very well travelled emperor borrowed these designs, such as the caryatids by the Canopus, along with the statues beside them depicting the Egyptian dwarf and fertility god, Bes.
A Greek so-called "Maritime Theatre" exhibits classical ionic style, whereas the domes of the main buildings as well as the corinthian arches of the Canopus and Serapeum show clear Roman architecture. One of the most striking and best preserved parts of the Villa are a pool and an artificial grotto which were named Canopus and Serapeum, respectively. Canopus was an Egyptian city where a temple (Serapeum) was dedicated to the god Serapis. However, the architecture is Greek influenced (typical in Roman architecture of the High and Late Empire) as seen in the Corinthian columns and the copies of famous Greek statues that surround the pool. An interesting structure in the Villa is the so-called "Maritime Theatre". It consists of a round portico with barrel vault supported by pillars. Inside the portico was a ring-shaped pool with a central island. During the ancient times the island was connected to the portico by two drawbridges. On the island sits a small Roman house complete with an atrium, a library, a triclinium and small baths. The area was probably used by the emperor as a retreat from the busy life at the court. The villa utilises numerous architectural styles and innovations. The area has an extensive network of underground tunnels. The tunnels were mostly used to transport servants and good from one area to another. The paths and roads above ground were reserved for more high-ranking residents of the Villa. Domes and barrel vaults are used extensively. The domes of the steam baths have circular holes on the apex to allow steam to escape. This is reminiscent of the Pantheon, also built by Hadrian.
Hadrian's Villa is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The justification for the inscription are:
- Criteria (i) and (iii): The Villa Adriana is a masterpiece that uniquely bring together the highest expressions of the material cultures of the ancient Mediterranean world.
- Criterion (ii): Study of the monuments that make up the Villa Adriana played a crucial role in the rediscovery of the elements of classical architecture by the architects of the Renaissance and the Baroque period. It also profoundly influenced many XIX and XX century architects and designers.
Visiting Hours
Opening hours from 9 am to one hour before sunset.
Closed January 1st, December 25th.
Ticket office closes one hour and half before closing time.
Tickets
Adults € 6,50 + € 2,50 for exhibitions + € 1,50 (booking fees) + € 2,00 (agency fees)
Reduced Fee for European Union members between 18 and 24 years old and for the civil European Union teachers € 3,25 + € 2,50 for exhibitions + € 1,50 (booking fees) + € 2,00 (agency fees)
Free entrance for persons under 18 and over 65 years old from the European Union
The Villa d'Este
The Villa d'Este was commissioned by Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este (1509-1572), son of Alfonso I d'Este and Lucrezia Borgia and grandson of Pope Alexander VI. He had been appointed Governor of Tivoli by Pope Julius III, with the gift of the villa, which he had entirely reconstructed to plans of Pirro Ligorio under the direction of the Ferrarese architect-engineer Alberto Galvani, court architect of the Este. The chief painter of the ambitious internal decoration was Livio Agresti from Forlì. From 1550 until his death in 1572, when the villa was nearing completion, he created a palatial setting surrounded by a fabulous terraced garden in the late-Renaissance mannerist style, which took full advantage of the dramatic slope but required innovations in bringing a sufficient water supply, which was employed in cascades, water tanks, troughs and pools, water jets and fountains. Drawing inspiration (and many statues and much of the marble used for construction) from the nearby "Villa Adriana" and reviving Roman techniques of hydraulic engineering to supply water to a sequence of fountains, the cardinal created an elaborate fantasy garden whose mixture of architectural elements and water features had an enormous influence on European landscape design.
Pirro Ligorio, who was responsible for the iconographic programs worked out in the villa's frescos, was also commissioned to lay out the gardens for the villa, with the assistance of Thomaso Chiruchi of Bologna, one of the most skilled hydraulic engineers of the XVI century. At Villa d'Este he was assisted in the technical designs for the fountains by a Frenchmen, Claude Venard, who was an experienced manufacturer of hydraulic organs. Cardinal Alessandro d'Este repaired and extended the gardens from 1605. In the XVIII century the villa and its gardens passed to the House of Hasburg and were neglected. The hydraulics fell into disuse, and many of the sculptures commissioned by Ippolito d'Este were scattered to other sites. The picturesque sense of decay recorded by Carl Bletchen and other painters was reserved during the tenure of Cardinal Gustav Von Hohenlohe. The Villa itself surrounds on three sides a XVI-century courtyard sited on the former Benedictine cloister. The fountain on a side wall, framed within a Doric, contains a sculpture of a sleeping nymph in a grotto guarded by d'Este heraldic eagles, with a bas-relief framed in apple boughs that links the villa to the Garden of the Hesperides.
The central main entrance leads to the "Appartamento Vecchio", the "Old Apartment" made for Ippolito d'Este, with its vaulted ceilings frescoed in secular allegories by Livio Agresti and his students, centered on the grand Sala, with its spectacular view down the main axis of the gardens, which fall away in a series of terraces. To the left and right are suites of rooms, that on the left containing Cardinal Ippolito's library and his bedchamber with the chapel beyond, and the private stairs to the lower apartment, the "Appartamento Nobile", which gives directly onto Pirro Ligorio's Gran Loggia straddling the gravelled terrace with a triumphal arch motif. The garden plan is laid out on a central axis with subsidiary cross-axes of carefully varied characters, refreshed by some five hundred jets in fountains, pools and water troughs, supplied by the Aniene, which is partly diverted through the town, a distance of a kilometer, and by the Rivellese spring, which supplies a cistern under the villa's courtyard. The Villa's uppermost terrace ends in a balustrated balcony with a sweeping view over the plain below. Double stairs flanking the axis lead to the next garden terrace, with the Grotto of Diana, richly decorated with frescoes and pebble mosaic to one side and the central "Fontana del Bicchierone" ("Fountain of the Great Cup") loosely attributed to Bernini, where water issues from a seemingly natural rock into a scrolling shell-like cup.
To descend to the next level, the visitor is required to take stairs at either end - the elaborate fountain complex called the "Rometta" ("the little Rome") is at the far left - to view the full lenght of the Hundred Fountains on the next level, where the water jets fill the long rustic trough, and Pirro Ligorio's "Fontana dell'Ovato" ("Ovate Fountain") ends the cross-vista. A visitor may walk behind the water through the rusticated arcade of the concave nymphaeum, which is peopled by marble nymphas by Giovanni Battista della Porta. Above the nymphaeum, the sculpture of Pegasus recalls to the visitor the fountain of Hippocrene on Parnassus, haunt of the Muses. This terrace is united to the next by the central Fountain of the Dragons, dominating the central perspective of the gardens, erected for a visit in 1572 of Pope Gregory XIII whose coat-of-arms features a dragon. Central stairs lead down a wooded slope to three rectangular fishponds set on the cross-axis at the lowest point of the gardens, terminated at the right by the water organ and Fountain of Neptune. A number of the novelty fountains are actived during the day, with times displayed at the entrance. At the Fountain of the Owl, birds warble until a model owl appears to scare them into silence, while the Water Organ periodically offers musical entertainment to visitor.
Villa d'Este is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The justifications for the inscription are:
- Criterion (i): The Villa d'Este is one of the most outstanding examples of Renaissance culture at its apogee;
- Criterion (ii): The gardens of the Villa d'Este had a profound influence on the development of garden design throughout Europe;
- Criterion (iii): The principles of Renaissance design and aesthetics are illustred in an exceptional manner by the gardens of the Villa d'Este;
- Criterion (iv): The gardens of the Villa d'Este are among the earliest and finest of the "Giardini delle Meraviglie" ("Gardens of the Wonders") and symbolise the flowering of Renaissance culture.
Visiting Hours
Opening hours from 08:30 am to one hour before sunset.
Closed All Mondays, January 1st, May 1st, December 25th. If Monday is a holiday, the Villa will remain open and the weekly closure will then be delayed until the following business day.
Ticket office closes one hour before closing time.
The hydraulic organ of the Organ Fountain is active daily, from 10:30 am, every two hours. The Owlet Fountain functions daily, from 10:00 am, every two hours.
Tickets
Adults € 6,50 + 3,00 (agency fees)
Reduced Fee for European Union members between 18 and 24 years old as well as permanent teachers of state schools (upon presentation of identify documents) € 3,25 + € 3,00 (agency fees)
Free entrance for persons under 18 and over 65 years old from the European Union upon presentation of identify documents.
For citizens of Extra-European States, the norm will apply according to the specific reciprocity agreements between each indivual State and the Italian State.
The Villa Gregoriana
The Villa Gregoriana park was created in 1835 by order of Pope Gregory XVI following the umpteenth flooding of the Aniene. It was decided to reorder the river bed and to transform a beautiful but dangerous site into a model of integration between nature and artistic invention. The project provided for tunnelling through Mount Catillo, diverting the course of the river to safeguard the town, and building an extraordinary natural garden dominated by the temples of the ancient Tibur: a stunning landscape of dense woods, steep cliffs, caves and waterfalls. Highlights include the fascinating "Grande Cascata"(Big Waterfall) that hurls its turbulent mass of water 100 metres below, and the natural caves of Neptune and the Sirens with their extraordinary succession of chasms and little waterfalls. Towards the end of the 1900s, degradation and a progressive state of abandon made it necessary to intervene to safeguard the park and its history. The site has recently reopened to the public after restoration by the FAI (Italy's equivalent of the English National Trust, with free entry to NT members). Opening hours are limited outside the summer season. Views over the gorge can be enjoyed from the "Ponte Gregoriano".
Visiting Hours
Opening hours from March 1st to 31st and from October 16th to November 30th from 10:00 am to 02:30 pm, Sunday and holidays from 10:00 am to 04:00 pm;
From April 1st to October 15th from 10:00 am to 06:30 pm;
From December 1st to February 28th open only on booking.
Closed Monday (except Easter Monday).
Ticket office closes one hour before closing time.
Tickets
Adults € 4,00 + € 1,50 (booking fees) + € 2,00 (agency fees)
Reduced Fee € 1,50 for FAI schools; € 2,00 for employes Wind (+ 1 relative); € 2,50 for children between 4 and 12 years old, school groups, Tivoli's residents; € 2,80 for employees Holcim; € 3,00 for groups; € 3,20 for IULM students, CTS, employees "Poste Italiane" and "Ferrovie Nord Milano"; € 3,50 for Touring Club; € 10,00 for families (max 4 persons) + € 1,50 (booking fees) + € 2,00 (agency fees)
Free entrance for children under 3 years old, ICOM and ICROM members, FAI and National Trust, disabled with card ANMIC, tour guides, tour interpreters, journalists, personnel of "Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali" and Unicredito + € 1,50 (booking fees) + € 2,00 (agency fees).
+39 347 6708101
