11 August 2017
Villa d'Este a Tivoli
Villa d'Este is a masterpiece among Italian gardens, inserted as it is in the UNESCO world's heritage list with the impressive concentration of fountains, nymphaeums, grottos, jeux d'eau and water music.
The garden should also be considered in the extraordinary landscape, artistic and historical context of Tivoli that presents the prestigious remains of ancient villas like Villa Adriana.
The imposing buildings and terraces over terraces are reminiscent of the Hanging Gardens of Babylonia, while the water feeding through an aqueduct and a tunnel under the city recall the engineering wisdom of the Romans.
Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este, governor of Tivoli from 1550, brought the magnificence of the courts of Ferrara, Rome and Fontainebleau back to life here and caused the rebirth of Villa Adriana.
Only after 1560 was the architectural and iconological program of the villa clarified as conceived by the painter, archeologist and architect, Pirro Ligorio, and carried out by Alberto Galvani, the court architect.
In the following century, new and important works involving great masters like Gian Lorenzo Bernini were undertaken.
After a long period of abandon, plundering and deterioration the villa arose again when it became the property of the Republic of Italy.
The recent restoration of the Organ Fountains and the Song of the Birds are more than worth a mention.
The garden should also be considered in the extraordinary landscape, artistic and historical context of Tivoli that presents the prestigious remains of ancient villas like Villa Adriana.
The imposing buildings and terraces over terraces are reminiscent of the Hanging Gardens of Babylonia, while the water feeding through an aqueduct and a tunnel under the city recall the engineering wisdom of the Romans.
Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este, governor of Tivoli from 1550, brought the magnificence of the courts of Ferrara, Rome and Fontainebleau back to life here and caused the rebirth of Villa Adriana.
Only after 1560 was the architectural and iconological program of the villa clarified as conceived by the painter, archeologist and architect, Pirro Ligorio, and carried out by Alberto Galvani, the court architect.
In the following century, new and important works involving great masters like Gian Lorenzo Bernini were undertaken.
After a long period of abandon, plundering and deterioration the villa arose again when it became the property of the Republic of Italy.
The recent restoration of the Organ Fountains and the Song of the Birds are more than worth a mention.
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We take a handful of sand from the endless landscape of awareness around us and call that handful of sand the world- Robert Maynard Pirsig - |
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