The Villa d'Este is a 16th-century villa located in Tivoli, near Rome. It is a famous example of Italian architecture and garden design. The villa is known for its terraced hillside garden and creative features such as fountains, ornamental basins, and decorated ceilings. This garden is a unique example of a 16th-century Italian garden that greatly influenced landscape design in Europe. Today, the Villa d'Este is an Italian state museum and has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001.

History

The Villa was built by Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este, who was born in 1509 and died in 1572. He was the second son of Alfonso I d'Este, the Duke of Ferrara, and the grandson of Pope Alexander VI through his mother, Lucrezia Borgia. The Este family had ruled Ferrara since 1393 and were well-known for supporting artists and scholars during the Renaissance. As a second son, Ippolito was expected to join the church. He became Archbishop of Milan when he was ten years old. At 27, he went to the French court, where he advised King Francis I and joined the King’s Private Council in 1540. At 30, Pope Paul III made him a cardinal. Because of his connections with the church and the French king, he became one of the wealthiest cardinals of his time, earning about 120,000 scudi each year. He supported many artists, including sculptor Benvenuto Cellini, musician Pierluigi da Palestrina, and poet Torquato Tasso. Despite his wealth, he often had debt. King Henry II of France sent him to Rome, where he played an important role in the city’s politics. He aimed to become Pope but failed because of his lavish lifestyle. His first attempt to be Pope in 1549 was blocked by the Habsburg Emperor. He then supported the Habsburg candidate and was rewarded in 1549 with the title of Governor of Tivoli. This position allowed him to manage the site of Hadrian’s Villa and other nearby ruins. He still wanted to become Pope and ran for the position five times but was never chosen.

Tivoli was a popular summer home since ancient Roman times because of its cool climate and location near Hadrian’s Villa, the summer home of Emperor Hadrian. The Governor of Tivoli lived in a building that had been a convent for the Benedictine order, built in the 9th century on the site of a Roman villa. It was later given to the Franciscan order in 1256. The building was too small for a cardinal’s household but offered a view of the countryside and access to natural water for fountains and gardens. Ippolito hired Pirro Ligorio, a scholar who studied Roman ruins, to design a new villa and garden that would be even more impressive than anything the Romans built. He used marble and statues from Hadrian’s Villa for the project.

Construction was planned to start in 1550, but Ippolito was busy with diplomatic tasks, including resolving a war in Parma and a mission to Siena. He returned to Tivoli in 1555 but was accused of simony by Pope Paul IV and exiled. After Pope Paul IV died in 1559, Pope Pius IV restored his title as Governor of Tivoli. Construction began in 1560, and more land was acquired by 1569. The project required removing homes, buildings, and roads. In 1568, local residents filed lawsuits against Ippolito, but he continued his work. Between 1563 and 1565, large amounts of earth were moved to build terraces, arcades, grottos, and nymphaeums. Water from the Aniene River was redirected to create pools, fountains, and water features. The steep slope of the garden, over 45 meters high, required digging canals and laying 200 meters of underground pipes to carry water from an artificial mountain to the rest of the garden. The garden was divided into regular sections, each 30 meters wide, following Renaissance design principles.

The villa’s design was led by Alberto Galvani, a Ferrarese architect and engineer. The interior decoration was supervised by painter Livio Agresti. Work on the villa’s interior began in 1565 and 1566, with a team of painters led by Girolamo Muziano and Federico Zuccari. In 1566, Ippolito tried to become Pope for the fifth time but failed. Pope Pius V later excluded him from official roles, and Ippolito focused more on decorating his villa. Between 1567 and 1572, painters, sculptors, and other artists worked on the villa under the direction of Muziano, Agresti, and others. The project slowed in 1569, likely because Ippolito had lost hope of becoming Pope and his French positions were no longer profitable. He spent more time in the villa, reading and meeting Renaissance artists and thinkers. In 1572, he hosted Pope Gregory XIII, which cost him over 5,000 scudi. He had to sell silver and other valuables to pay for the event. Ippolito died in Rome on December 2, 1572, and was buried in a simple tomb near the Villa.

After Ippolito’s death, his nephew, Cardinal Luigi, inherited the villa and gardens. He worked on some unfinished parts but struggled with costs. After Luigi’s death in 1586, the villa was managed by the Sacred College of Cardinals, who neglected it. In 1599, it returned to the Este family with Cardinal Alessandro d'Este, who renovated the gardens and water systems and secured official ownership from Pope Gregory XV. His successors, the Dukes of Modena, added more improvements. Francesco I restored damaged buildings and planted trees in the gardens. Cardinal Rinaldo I commissioned two fountains by Gian Lorenzo Bernini in 1660–61. However, by 1695, the Este family could no longer afford to maintain the villa, which they rarely used. The villa declined over time, and by 1751, its furnishings were sent to Modena, leaving the site abandoned.

Villa

The Villa can be seen from the gardens. The entrance to the Villa is modest and modern, located next to the Church of Santa-Maria Maggiore. The Courtyard of the Villa was originally the cloister of a convent. The Fountain of Venus in the courtyard still looks the same as it did when it was first built.

Today, the Villa is entered through a doorway on Piazza Trento, near the entrance to the Church of Santa-Maria Maggiore. During the time of Ippolito d'Este, this entrance was rarely used. Visitors usually arrived at the bottom of the gardens and walked up to the Villa, seeing the fountains and statues along the way. The current door was built in 1521, before Ippolito d'Este lived there. Inside the doorway is a room with a painted ceiling. This ceiling once had paintings, but most of them were destroyed during World War II. Some paintings, like The Sacrifice of Isaac, still remain. These paintings were made between 1563 and 1565 and are believed to have been created by Girolamo Muziano. The next room, called the Hall of the Stories of Solomon, has scenes from the life of King Solomon painted on marble-like frames. These were also made by Muziano and his workers around 1565. A large head made of travertine stone is displayed in this room. It was in the garden until the 18th century.

The Courtyard was built where the convent’s cloister once stood. It was constructed between 1566 and 1567 and has a gallery around it. The center of the Courtyard is the Fountain of Venus, the only fountain in the Villa that still looks the same as when it was first built. The fountain was designed by Raffaelo Sangallo between 1568 and 1569. It has two columns and a marble bust of Emperor Constantine from the 4th century. The main part of the fountain is a statue of a sleeping Venus, made in the 4th or 5th century. Water once poured from a vase beside her into a Roman bowl decorated with lion heads. The fountain is surrounded by a courtyard built in the 16th century on the site of a Benedictine cloister. A side fountain has a grotto and a statue that resembles the Sleeping Ariadne in the Vatican. The grotto, with its carved stalactites, shows that this figure represents a local spirit, or genius loci. The base of the fountain has a gilded stucco relief showing the white eagles of the D'Este family. It shows the path of a river from Mount Sant'Angelo to the Villa. The sculptural details in the courtyard, including quince trees, show the 11th labor of Hercules: stealing golden apples from the Garden of the Hesperides, guarded by a dragon named Ladone. Hercules was believed to protect the Tiburtine region, where the Villa is located, and was also claimed as an ancestor of the D'Este family.

A detail of the wooden ceiling in the bed chamber of Ippolito d'Este is shown. The view from the Cardinal’s apartments is also described. The private chapel of the Cardinal is another feature.

The Salon on the ground floor is the first room in the Cardinal’s personal apartments. It was used for meetings and has a view of the garden and the Villa of Hadrian. The walls were once covered with leather decorated with gold and green designs and the eagles of the D'Este family. The vaulted ceiling has a frieze and frescoes showing 20 different personifications of virtue. These were designed by Livio Agresti in 1568 and created by a team of artists and stucco-makers. Other scenes include landscapes with ruined temples inspired by the Tiburtine countryside.

A small room next to the Salon has a frieze and vault decorated with more personifications of virtue. It leads to the Cardinal’s Bedroom, built in 1576. The bedroom walls were once covered with leather painted with gold and silver. The most notable feature is the coffered wooden ceiling, which is gilded and painted with the Este crest: an eagle surrounded by quince branches, a bishop’s hat, and the motto of the Este family, "ab insomni non custodita dracone," a verse from Ovid about a dragon guarding the gardens of the Hesperides. Feminine figures representing different virtues are in the corners of the room. The private apartment includes a library and a small chapel. The chapel’s walls have frescoes mixing classical and Christian symbols, such as Sibyls and prophets. The ceiling has a fresco of the Virgin Mary’s coronation. The apartment connects to Pirro Ligorio’s classical Gran Loggia on the garden side of the house, which is based on a terrace below and shaped like a triumphal arch.

The decoration of the First Tiburtine Hall, a fresco in the Hall of Noah, and the Triumph of Apollo in the Second Tiburtine Hall are described. Other rooms include the Hall of Glory, the Hall of the Hunt, a fresco of The Synod of the Gods on the ceiling of the Hall of the Fountain, a fresco of Hercules welcomed to Olympus on the ceiling of the Hall of Hercules, and a ceiling fresco in the Second Tiburtine Hall showing scenes from mythology and Roman history.

The floor below the Cardinal’s apartments has several decorated rooms, each with a theme related to nature, mythology, and water. These rooms were used for private activities, such as listening to music, reading, or religious reflection. They are reached by a large staircase from the courtyard and connected by a long, narrow corridor with a high vaulted ceiling. The corridor’s ceiling has mosaics from the late 16th century showing a pergola with colorful birds, making the corridor feel like part of the garden. The corridor also has three fountains with miniature grottos framed by columns and pediments.

The Hall of Noah has walls covered with frescoes that look like tapestries. These frescoes include classical landscapes, ruins, and farmhouses. The room was decorated in 1571 and is attributed to Girolamo Muziano, known for similar Venetian landscape scenes. The main scene shows Noah and the Ark after landing on Mount Ararat, with a white eagle, the symbol of the D'Este family, landing from the Ark.

The Hall of Moses has a fresco on the ceiling showing Moses striking a rock to bring water to the people of Israel. This scene was a reference to the Cardinal, who brought water to the Villa gardens by digging channels through the rock. Other scenes include parts of Moses’ life, a hydra with seven heads (the emblem of the

Gardens and fountains

• The Fountain of Neptune below the Fountain of the Organ
• The Rometta fountain
• Neptune's fountain
• One hundred fountains
• The Fontana dell'Ovato ("Oval Fountain") flows from its egg-shaped basin into a pool next to a rustic nymphaeum.
• The Fountain of the Owl
• The Fountain of Diana of Ephesus, or "Mother Nature"

The fame and glory of the Villa d'Este was most famous because of its amazing system of fountains. It had fifty-one fountains and nymphaeums, 398 spouts, 364 water jets, 64 waterfalls, and 220 basins. These were all powered by 875 meters of canals, channels, and cascades, using only gravity, not pumps.

Pirro Ligorio, who designed the images in the villa’s frescoes, was also asked to plan the gardens. He worked with Tommaso Chiruchi of Bologna, a top hydraulic engineer in the 1500s. Chiruchi had helped build fountains at Villa Lante. At Villa d'Este, he got help from a Frenchman named Claude Venard, who made hydraulic organs. The result was one of the most famous Renaissance gardens, compared only to Villa Lante, Villa Farnese at Caprarola, and Villas Aldobrandini and Torlonia in Frascati. The garden and water features were admired and copied for two centuries, from Portugal to Saint Petersburg.

The garden plan has a central axis with smaller cross-axes. It includes about 500 water jets in fountains, pools, and troughs. Water comes from the Aniene River, which flows through the town for one kilometer. Originally, it also used the Rivellese spring, which filled a cistern under the villa’s courtyard (now also supplied by the Aniene). The garden is now part of the Grandi Giardini Italiani.

• The Vialone, or terrace, at the top of the garden
• The Fountain of the Tripod, with the view of the garden below
• The double loggia provided access to the ceremonial rooms, and a terrace for Cardinal’s apartments above
• The Cenacolo, or Gran Loggia, at the end of the Vialone

A large terrace, 200 meters long, called the Vialone, is between the Villa and the gardens. It has a view of the gardens and countryside. It was built between 1568 and 1569. Cardinals used it for fireworks, games, and celebrations. It was originally shaded by two rows of elm trees, except for the space in front of the Villa, which was left open for the view. The terrace is enclosed on one end by the Fountain of Europa and on the other by a large loggia and belvedere shaped like a triumphal arch called the Cenacolo. This structure provided shade in summer and offered views of the scenery. It was meant to have stucco, gilding, and frescoes inside, but it was never finished.

In the center of the terrace, attached to the villa’s facade, is the double loggia, made of travertine stone between 1566 and 1577. Its two stairways lead to ceremonial rooms on the lower floor, while the upper level created a terrace for the Cardinal’s apartments. On the terrace level, there is a nymphaeum, or grotto, where the Fountain of Leda is located. The original fountain showed Jupiter and Leda as a swan and four children, Elena, Clytemnestra, Castor, and Pollux. These statues were sold in the 18th century and are now in the Galleria Borghese in Rome. They were replaced by a headless statue of Minerva found in the garden of the Palazzo Manni in Tivoli. The original fountain had a special water trick: water from a vase held by Leda hit a metal disk, causing light to reflect on the grotto walls.

The Fountain of the Tripod is in the center of the Vialone. It was placed there in 1930 as a copy of an ancient Roman fountain, a marble basin supported by a central column and three pilasters. The original is now in the Louvre. The original fountain on the site, the Fountain of the Sea Horses, was moved by Ippolito from Hadrian’s Villa to his garden and is now in the Vatican Museum.

The Fountain of Europa is at the northeast end of the garden. It was started by Ippolito but finished in 1671. Its design is a triumphal arch with two types of columns, Corinthian and Doric, like the Grand Loggia. The large niche in the center, now empty, once held a sculpture of Europa Embracing the Bull, now in the Villa Albani in Rome.

• The Fountain of the Bicchierone, by Bernini, and the Loggetta of the Cardinal
• The Fountain of the Bicchierone, seen from the Terrace
• Mask spouting water in the Grotto of Pomona
• The Fountain of Pegasus

Two ramps lead down to the upper garden from the Fountain of the Tripod, and there are symmetrical double flights of stairs at either end. The Cardinal’s Walk is a shaded path attached to the terrace’s retaining wall, connecting one side of the garden to the other, passing by several grottos built into the wall. At the southeast end of the walk, just below the Fountain of Europa, is the Grotto of Aegle and Aesculpius. It is decorated with tartar flakes, mosaics, and colored sea shell fragments, and a small part of the original fresco. It originally held two statues: Aesculpius, the god of medicine, now in the Louvre, and Aegle, the goddess of healing, now in the Vatican Museum.

The Loggia of Pandora is in the middle of the Cardinal’s Walk, just below the center of the Villa. This part of the walk is covered, with arcades looking out at the garden. It had a nymphaeum built into the wall and was decorated with mosaics and statues of Pandora and two Minervas. Pandora’s statue carried a vase of water, symbolizing the world’s evils. The vase was a hidden fountain that poured water. The statues were sold in the 18th century; Pandora and one Minerva are now in the Capitoline Museum. In the 19th century, the nymphaeum became a Christian chapel, a favorite place for composer Franz Liszt, who dedicated two music pieces to it.

The

The lower garden – The Rotonda of the Cypresses and the Fountain of Diana of Ephesus

• The Fountain of Diana of Ephesus
• The Mette fountains in the lower garden
• Fountain of the d'Este eagles

In the 16th century, the lower garden, which is below the fishponds, was mostly used as a kitchen garden. The center of the lower garden was divided into 16 large squares. Each square had a pergola in the middle, surrounded by beds of medicinal herbs and flowers, and large pots with fruit trees. The main paths through the garden were covered with trellises where grapes, heather, and jasmine grew. In the center was a large wooden pavilion that had four small fountains shaped like flowers, with water spouting from them. The pergolas and pavilion were removed in the early 17th century and replaced by the Rotonda of the Cypresses, a circular path that originally had 16 cypress trees. This path provided shade for visitors and offered a view of the rest of the garden, the fountains, and the Villa above. By the 19th century, the cypress trees had grown very large and became famous. They were painted by artists, inspired music by Franz Liszt, and mentioned in poetry by Gabriele d'Annunzio. Two of the original cypress trees remain today; the other cypresses and laurel hedges were planted at the end of the 20th century.

The Fountains of the d'Este eagles are a group of small rustic fountains. Water sprays up from stone bowls, and each fountain has a different theme. One fountain includes statues of a white eagle, which is the symbol of the d'Este family. These fountains are a remnant of the formal gardens that existed in that area before the Rotonda of the Cypresses was built.

The lower garden also has two large rustic fountains called the Mette. They are located in the northwest corner of the garden near the entrance. These fountains were designed to look like natural rock, with grottos and niches. They were created between 1568 and 1569 by Tommaso da Como and were originally meant to have two large statues of giants, who were the garden’s guardians. A smaller rustic fountain, called the Fontana Rustca dell'Inverno, holds a 16th-century statue of Winter that was once in the Gran Loggia.

The most famous fountain in the lower garden is the Fountain of Diana of Ephesus, also known as the Fountain of Mother Nature. This statue was originally placed next to the Fountain of the Organ. It was moved to the lower garden by Alessandro d'Este in the 16th century. The statue was made by the Flemish sculptor Gillis van den Vliete in 1568 and was modeled after a classical Roman statue of Diana of Ephesus from the 2nd century. This original Roman statue is now in the National Archaeological Museum in Naples. The Fountain of Diana of Ephesus stands in a grotto made of tartar flakes, and water sprays from the goddess’s many breasts.

In art

The Villa d'Este gardens have been painted or drawn by many well-known artists, especially during the Renaissance and in the 19th century. Because of this, parts of the garden inspired and were copied in other gardens throughout Europe, from England to Russia. During the Renaissance, the garden was considered a place to display classical art and new inventions. However, by the late 18th century, when the garden was falling into disrepair, it helped shape the idea of the romantic, picturesque garden.

• The Villa d'Este gardens by Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1761)
• The Little Park by Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1763)
• Cypress Avenue at Villa d'Este by Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1774)
• Drawing of the Oval Fountain by Hubert Robert (1733–1808)
• The Villa d'Este by J. M. W. Turner (about 1796)
• The Villa d'Este by Pierre-Athanase Chauvin (1811)
• Gardens of the Villa d'Este by Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot (1843)

The garden was used as a setting and filming location for Kenneth Anger’s 1953 short film Eaux d'Artifice, as well as the 1972 film The Way of the Dragon, where Bruce Lee and Nora Miao tour the gardens. Filming also took place at the Villa d'Este for The Lizzie McGuire Movie (2003) and To Rome with Love.

Visiting the Villa

Villa d'Este can be reached using the following methods:

• Take the blue regional bus Roma Tivoli-Via Prenestina from the bus terminal near Ponte Mammolo station on metro line B. The Largo Nazioni Unite stop is about 100 meters from the Villa’s entrance.
• Take the local train line FL2 from Tiburtina station to Tivoli station. Then, board local bus CAT number 1 or 4 to the Piazza Garibaldi stop. This stop is in Tivoli’s main square, directly in front of the Villa.