Mercoledi, Aprile 28, 9.5 miles
Villa D'Este
Our first stop was Villa D'Este in Tivoli. Walking through the town we passed through this vibrant plaza. It was surrounded on three sides by streets. I found this bit of landscape architecture quite pleasant, weaving these benches through the edge of the plaza. The environment was fairly comfortable although, I did find the distinction between the plaza and the street a little difficult as they were treated with the same type of paving (not uncommon I've noticed in many of these Italian towns). Nonetheless, I welcome this environment and enjoy the differences in design as compared with many plazas in the United States.
Groupings of old men chatting the morning away.
Check out this paving, and the drainage channels!
View out to the valley and the town from the upper balcony of the villa
I LOVE spiral staircases!
Looking down at the lower courtyard and gardens below.
Lower plaza; the garden areas are down and to the right; the villa is on the left, the part under the wisteria has been transformed into a gift shop and cafe
varying levels of ramps and stairs that wind down the villa/gardens; in traditional Italian Renaissance style, this is all very symmetrical (which I happen to like in many ways)
Fontana del Bicchierone
Nice trees!
View of the water organ fountain. Twice a day it opens up and plays a tune, we got there just in time to hear it, along with all the neon dressed school children!
Looking down at Neptune's Fountain and the three rectangular ponds that sit on axis with it.
enjoying some of the spring blossoms and an ancient tree
Here I am in front of Neptune's fountain. (one level below the water organ)
Le Cento Fontane (the Hundred Fountains)
Villa D'Este
Our next stop, Villa Adriana (Hadrian's Villa). This villa, or should I say city, covers an immense amount of land (I knew it was going to be a good mileage day!). The scale model above shows a bit of how spread out it was which just adds to the impressiveness of the accomplishment in building it all. It was built as the private summer retreat for Emperor Hadrian between AD 118-134. The architecture of the villa was full scale replicas of the emperor's favorite sites in Greece and Egypt.
To reach the main part of the villa we hiked up a long incline. All along the way I kept expecting to find animals roaming around as I felt like I was in a zoo. About halfway up Tony asked, "Anyone tired yet? Whew!....Nah, not me. Not this kid!" (as he was huffing and puffing up the hill)
Teatro Maritimo
A soldier standing guard over the Canopus (a sanctuary of the God Serapis near Alexandria).
And here we came across some statuesque Goddesses....I particularly like the one in the middle right raising her hand gracefully towards the Heavens. There's just something so lovely, so elegant about her.
The Canopus
Yeah, I see you ladies....go ahead, don't be ashamed, fondle his 'buns of steel' (or should I say 'stone') You're on vacation!
a friend roaming the grounds
here's another one who loved all the attention he got, not to mention posing for a few shots
Nice tree!
some ducks in the pond
turtle turtle......turtle turtle
impressive presence of trees
I found this juxtaposition of old olive grove in the villa next to the new car interesting, seen all over Italy, old and new thrust into life together.
1 comment:
You are so witty! And that particular goddess is truly exquisite!
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