The Road Goes Ever On

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Villa d'Este: The Interiors

The 16th century Villa d'Este is right in town, overlooking the lands to the west below. It was created for Cardinal d'Este, one of the papal families. Apparently, even then, there were some loop-holes in the vow of poverty.

Courtyard of the Villa

Nice frescoes throughout

The whole thing built over a Roman villa, of course

Illusional ceiling with stubby columns

Other illusionist effects; effective too

And a nod to classical Roman art

It's a big place, three floors of rooms

Staircase, mostly for servants, and tourists, I guess

Lizst lived here in 1884, so his rooms are a nice museum; and

there are concerts in the summer

Tivoli

Our campsite at the Piazzale del Cimiteri; the Piazzale del

Bus Stazione was on the other side of the intersection

Why we didn't stay at the designated camper-stop: it became

the market on Wednesday morning

Local Renaissance castle; closed for repairs

Looking north-west from Tivoli

Hill-towns dot the horizon; some hills are just towns

Looking west to Rome and Tiburtina, and nearly continuous

development

Including some of the largest quarries (travertine) I have ever

seen

And, immediately below, a ruined mini-Pantheon

Hadrian's Villa

We drove about 25 miles east of Rome, up slightly into the Appenine foothills, to the ancient town of Tivoli, one of the summer playgrounds of "elite" Romans of the classical era. The Piazza del Cimiterio in Tivoli afforded us free if occasionally noisy parking for three nights while we explored the area's major sights--Tivoli itself, Hadrian's Villa, and the Renaissance Villa d'Este.

Elite Romans had been moving to the countryside since the first century BCE, building villas and plantations and such ("Rancho Deluxe") to get away from the hustle and bustle of the big cities. Hadrian would count as an elite Roman: emperor early in the second century, presiding over the empire's greatest extent, a traveler, a general, a scholar, a lover of all things Greek. We have bumped into him at his Wall in Britain, his birthplace at Italica, near Seville, at battle sites in Romania, at his tunnel (diverting a river) near Antioch, all over Greece, and at his Forum and Column and Pantheon in Rome. He was the third of the Five Good Emperors, and, next to Augustus, I'd say, best of them all. Anyhow, his villa, near Tivoli, is certainly the biggest of them all, a city in itself, with a palace, guest quarters, three Baths, both Latin and Greek libraries, huge warehouses and administrator/servant/soldier quarters, and some of the most striking water features of the ancient world. I'll just post some of the better pix, without comment.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Ciao!

We reluctantly left Rome on Monday the 16th of May. Even after nearly four weeks for me, three for Vicki, and seven for the Grey Wanderer, it was hard to leave. Our camping situation at the Prato Smeralda, while not ideal, was at least secure and very cheap, and the commute into the Eternal City was a snap. And then there is Rome, with all its sights, major and minor, food and drink, and just the thrill of being in one of the world's oldest and still most vibrant cities. Our leaving was at least helped along by the decision to keep the Grey Wanderer in Europe, rather than shipping it back to the States this summer. We like our mode of travel very much and want to be able to continue it in Europe in future years.