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Villa D'Este & Hadrian's Villa: Private Tivoli Day Trip from Rome

Things to know

Duration:

7 hrs

Categories:

Architecture, City Highlights, Culture, Day Trip, History

Private Tour:

You and our own professional guide. 100% exclusive

Transport Mode:

Driving tour: including a private vehicle throughout the tour

What's included:

A friendly, professional English Speaking tour guide for your own private group, Plenty of time to take photos of your favourite places, Villa Adriana and Villa D'Este admission tickets, Roundtrip private transport including hotel pick up & drop off from Central Rome

What's not included:

Food and drink, Gratuities

Meeting points: Your guide will meet you at Via Ludovico di Savoia, 4, 00185 Roma, which is a small side-street very close to Basilica St. John in Lateran.

What makes this tour special

Explore two stunning UNESCO World Heritage sites in Tivoli: Hadrian’s Villa, home to the magnificent ruins of the villa of Emperor Hadrian; and Villa d’Este, a symbol of the Italian Renaissance, famous for its terraced hillside and beautiful fountains, just forty minutes away from Rome.

On your private full-day trip you will:

Enjoy a scenic drive out of Rome towards the hills and quarries of Tivoli while hearing the stories of the fascinating Emperor Hadrian, and Cardinal Ippolito d’Este, who built their respective idyllic countryside villas 1500 years apart;

Visit the magnificent and monumental ruins of Emperor Hadrian’s Villa, a vast palatial complex, more like a city, which housed over 2,500 people when in use;

Learn about his private life: his wife, Vibia Sabina, and their often difficult relationship, his adopted father Emperor Trajan, and his beautiful beloved, the Greek boy Antinuous, and their doomed and tragic love story;

Explore the astonishing buildings including the Winter Palace, the libraries, the Imperial palace, the basilica, the palestra, and several bathhouses, including Hadrian’s private Thermae the Heliocaminus;

Wander around the highlight of this UNESCO World Heritage site the majestic Canopus - the grand dining room;

Learn all about how these buildings were used, and what life was like in ancient Rome, from the aristocrats to the slaves;

Visit the Renaissance Villa d’Este, built 1500 years after Hadrian by Cardinal Ippolito d'Este, son of Lucrezia Borgia;

Explore this splendid Renaissance palace, famous for its spectacular terraced gardens with hundreds of exquisitely beautiful and dramatic fountains;

Wander around the magical gardens, admire the ornate fountains, inspired by ancient Greco-Roman myths, gods, and goddesses;

Walk the avenue of the 100 fountains, and breathe in the fairytale-like atmosphere of this magical place;

Finally, enjoy the relaxing scenic drive back to Rome.

Your first stop is a tour of Emperor Hadrian's Villa, the magnificent ruins of a vast palatial complex that could house up to 2,500 people, dating to the 2nd century A.D. It is a place where natural beauty, architectural creativity, art and history come together with a magic that has no equal in all of Europe.

Today it is a protected UNESCO World Heritage site, having been looted and plundered throughout the 19th century. Many of the statues that belong here are now housed in museums. However, the beautiful ruins are incredibly well preserved, and the site is a peaceful, tranquil place to walk around, with fragrant olive groves, beautiful views and magnificent ancient ruins.

Learn about the life of Emperor Hadrian, as you wander around his favourite palace. Hadrian was a passionate architect, famous for Hadrian's Wall in England, the design of the spherical Pantheon in Rome with its incredible domed roof with an oculus, and his magnificent villa at Tivoli. He was born in Italica in Spain, where from fairly humble origins he grew up to be a highly successful and popular general and eventually emperor.

As the studious young protégée of Emperor Trajan, he was known as il Graeculus (the Greekling) because of his love of Greek architecture! Hear all about his rise to power, the controversial love of his life, the beautiful Greek boy Antinuous and their tragic love story, which ended when Antinous drowned in the Nile. Was it an accident? Or murder? You’ll see and hear about Hadrian’s many homages to Antinuous in the Egyptian architecture embedded throughout the villa.

Then it’s time to time travel forward 1500 years, as you drive 10 minutes up the road to Tivoli, where you will enjoy a stroll around town and a delicious lunch (cost not included), before the next part of your tour.

Enjoy some free time for lunch (not included, but your guide will be happy to recommend many of Tivoli's delicious restaurants) and a stroll around Tivoli.

The Villa d’Este is one of the most beautiful palaces and gardens in Italy. It was unique for its time – a trailblazer in beauty and design, with contributions from artists as famous as Bernini. Today it is a treasured UNESCO World Heritage site, filled with hundreds of dazzling fountains – a truly breathtaking experience.

It was built in the 1500s by Cardinal Ippolito d’Este (1509-1572), a controversial figure, famous for his nepotism and failure to win the papacy three times! Uncover the intriguing and controversial history of his infamous family with your guide (he was the son of Lucrezia Borgia, grandson of Pope Alexander VI).

Wander around the steeply terraced gardens, along the Avenue of the hundred fountains, encountering grand water basins and opulent fountains, inspired by the canopy at Hadrian’s villa, and many Greco-Roman myths and gods and goddesses.

Admire the quieter alleys with gently flowing streams from the mouths of Sphinxes, to the dramatic thundering of the magnificent centrepiece, with its jets of water reaching many metres high into the air.

After a refreshing walk through the gardens and magical fountains of the villa, you will be driven back to your hotel, where you can relax and think about the wonderful treasures that you have just seen on this special Rome private tour.

What you'll see

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