VILLA D’ESTE

Description

Essentials about the Villa d’Este in brief

Those who have a little time on their next visit to Rome should definitely make a trip to nearby Tivoli to see the Villa d’Este. The Villa d’Este is a Renaissance palace with an adjoining park, which is one of the most beautiful gardens in Italy and because of its beauty and importance has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2011. By the way, a trip to Tivoli can be perfectly combined with a visit to the nearby Hadrian’s Villa – the summer residence of Emperor Hadrian, which is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The history of the Villa d’Este

Historically, the Villa d’Este dates back to Cardinal Ippolito II d’Este (1509-72), who in 1550 became governor of Tivoli at the gates of Rome. He chose a former Benedictine monastery as his palace and pursued the idea of creating a garden on the sloping hillside below his palace. For this purpose, the valley lying there was radically reshaped. It was enlarged and some buildings were removed to allow the garden to be aligned along its longitudinal axis. The rooms of the palace were also richly decorated by the best artists of the time. When Ippolito II d’Este died in 1572, the works were almost completed.

33 years later, his successor Cardinal Alessandro d’Este commissioned further works. On the one hand, the existing facilities were repaired, on the other hand, the overall concept of the gardens was changed very extensively and the decorations of the fountains were renewed. In the 18th century the complex, by then owned by the Austrian House of Habsburg, fell into disrepair because not enough was done to maintain it. The gardens were abandoned, the fountains were broken and the collection of antique statues, expanded mainly by Cardinal Ippolito II d’Este, was scattered to the winds.

The decay continued until the middle of the 19th century. It was not until 1851, when the new owner Gustav-Adolf Prinz zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst initiated a series of works to save the complex from final decay. At the outbreak of World War I, the villa became the property of the Italian state and was extensively renovated and opened to the public in the 1920s. Towards the end of the Second World War, the complex suffered bomb damage, which made another extensive restoration necessary after the war.

The gardens of the Villa d’Este

Today, however, the gardens of Villa d’Este present themselves once again as a wonderful masterpiece of garden art. They include more than 500 fountains, nymphaea, water features, grottos and water basins, as well as a water organ. The natural gradient was artfully used to operate the enormous complex. The garden consists of two parts of different character. The hillside garden descends the slope in a succession of ramps, stairs and terraces. The central axis, marked by niche architecture, leads down from the palace to the main garden.

The Villa d’Este is a paradise especially for fountain lovers. In hardly any other garden complex can one see so many water features as here. The Ovato Fountain is located in the hillside garden. It is the most important water reservoir of the complex. Through an underground channel, a tributary of the Aniene River emerges here and is then distributed to other channels that feed the complex. Above the fountain rises an artificial mountain dominated by a statue of Pegasos. At the head ends are two other special fountains. The Fontana di Roma and the Rometta, a setting representing ancient Rome, most of which was demolished around 1855, are the counterpoint to the Tivoli Fountain. The art of irrigation is symbolically represented here as a basic requirement for Rome’s cultural flourishing.

Across the slope there are long paths along linear fountains (Avenue of a Hundred Fountains). Below is the imposing transverse axis of the gardens along the slope. On it there are three fish ponds staggered one behind the other. The last pond cuts into the northwestern slope and is closed by a double terrace, above which the imposing Neptune Fountain with water organ is enthroned. On the opposite side is a lookout point that juts out from the southwestern boundary of the garden. From there you can enjoy a wide view over the valley. The main garden is somewhat flatter. Pergolas lead through small gardens; in some beds originally medicinal herbs and useful plants were grown.