Villa Adriana, Tivoli

We got stuck at the airport for a while, trying to determine if a classmate had missed her flight (she had, due to weather). After finding this out we were able to leave and Francesca led us out to meet our charming drivers, Giacobbe and Filippo. They loaded us into two minivans and we made the 30km side trip to Tivoli to visit Villa Adriana. We decided to scrap having an actual picnic lunch at the villa and to grab some pizza in Tivoli. We were behind schedule and starving, not to mention jet-lagged. Francesca brought us pizza marinara and pizza bianca (plain crust with olive oil and sea salt) from a local pizzeria. The pizza bianca was magical, and cured my jet-lag on the spot. We ate in a small park named after Hans Christian Andersen. I have no idea what he had to do with Tivoli because the sign was in Italian.

Hadrian's summer home is a UNESCO World Heritage site, though it is somewhat neglected.  The ruins are still awe-inspiring though, and the view immense. The Emperor Hadrian (#3 out of the 5 "Good Emperors") built his villa between 118 and 134 A.D. (C.E. to some).  The site seemed endless, especially after about three hours in the sun.  My body and mind remembered they had not slept much on the plane.  I was laggin'.

A group of schoolkids had just finished lunch here.

I strolled along the canopo.

And met a hungry fish.  *Gurp*

The complex at the end of the canopo.

Checking out the ancient drain.

And a lovely drain it was...

This structure reminded me of another place I had been: Double Arch in Arches National Park.

Of course, Hadrian's building was not as humbling or as beautiful, but it still was quiet, weathered, and old.

This building was probably the slaves quarters.

Ancient olive tree, still thriving!

Weeds are usually a sign of neglect at sites like this, and there were several places we could not explore because of danger signs or 'caution' tape. But I loved all the red poppies. Part of me enjoys seeing nature reclaim man-made sites (shout out to Caitlin!).

A view of the hills.  I didn't get a picture of Hadrian's prized view, but it looked toward Rome. After sitting to enjoy the sun and the breeze, we kept exploring, sometimes separating into two groups. Via pulled an Indiana Jones here and got a cleaner look at some of Hadrian's ancient opus sectile.

Columns still intact, the stories they could tell...

Here are more mosaic floors, in need of some TLC. These were bedrooms for visitors.

After several hours, we were fried. It was hard keeping my level of excitement up as the day wore on in the hot sun. After being thwarted a few times, we finally found the entrance to Hadrian's special "Island Palace" or Teatro Marittimo (Maritime Theater). This was for private use and entertaining. I guess these days in would be known as a "man-cave" (man-lagoon?). After this we walked down the long hill back to the parking lot, just as another bus filled with kids pulled up. We got into our minivans and headed to Roberto Nardi's renovated convent to settle in and enjoy a meal with our hosts.

Teatro Marittimo

Villa Adriana was my first peek at Roman ruins, and I took a ton of pictures. Of course, my numerous pictures are a little boring, and I've tried to post the nicest ones. Because the villa has been around for so long, it was only a matter of time before treasures were stolen or whisked away to museums. Sometimes removing mosaics, statues, and artifacts from a site is the only way to save them. When I walked through the Capitoline museum, I saw things which had been at Villa Adriana, and wished I had seen them at the Villa instead of in the sterile setting of a museum. It is hard to imagine the glory of such a building without some idea of what it looked like (more than a model, maybe a 'virtual' recreation?). This is something I would learn more about as we began our conservation lecture and lab with Roberto Nardi and his team.