Villa D’Este

 

The beautiful Villa D’Este, is located in Tivoli just outside of Rome, Italy.

It’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site,

famous for its terraced hillside Renaissance gardens – especially the fountains.

It was commissioned by Cardinal Ippolito II D’Este (son of Alfonso I D’Este and Lucrezia Borgia) in 1550, and took 20 years to build.

Ippolito ran for Pope five times, but was never selected.

The architect of the gardens was Pirro Logorio.  He repurposed some of the marble and statues from nearby Hadrian’s Villa for his design.

It was quite a task as the water for the fountains comes directly from the River Aniene through a 600-meter underground channel.

 Located on high ground it also has beautiful views of the surrounding countryside.

You can actually walk behind this fountain.  I remember doing it and banging my head against the rock on my first visit in 1975. 

I was more careful the second time. 😉