Italy Trip Sept 2025 - Part 4 Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli, Lazio

We only visited three Roman sites - but they were all spectacular compared to most that we have seen elsewhere. Most ancient sites have just the lower walls and foundations left, which show you only the outlines of buildings. The places we visited in Italy had whole walls, and some even had ceilings/roofs! Not bad for something 2,000 years old.

Hadrian's Villa, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is a large villa complex built between 118 and 138AD for the Emperor Hadrian. Hadrian was a well traveled man and asked for the many places that most impressed him to be reproduced inside. The complex contains baths, nymphaea, pavilions, gardens and residential structures representing the provinces conquered by the Roman Empire.

It always helps seeing a model like below to get a better feel for an archaeological site, although I don't know what a lot of the places in my photos are of now!

This wall is immense; I was astounded to see such a high wall still standing. It is a part of the 'Pecile' which you can see on the model above as the large rectangular shaped area with an open centre on the right. On the other side of this wall would have been a fish pond, like in the photo. This area had a covered roof and columns and was designed for the Emperor and his guests to take their daily strolls, known as ambulatio.

No idea what the buildings are but the whole area was nicely landscaped.

Below, either end of a grassy area beyond the Pecile. The bottom picture is of the Vestibule and above and below show a paved rectangular shaped roadway excavated in 2000 which looks like it is grassing over. This was the main entrance for guests going to the Canopus, where summer banquets were held.

The Small Baths - there were two bathhouses in this complex, this and the Large Baths.

Two floor tiles. There was no explanation as to why there were just two tiles sitting there, and if more were found, and where they might be now (a museum in Rome probably). They are examples of inlay work called Opus Sectile which was complex and very expensive, so generally limited to imperial properties.

Yet more buildings - wish I could tell you what they were but it was such a huge site and only the most obvious places could be figured out from the plan that we had of the site. And even if I had known six months ago, I can't remember now!

This was the Large Baths.

A Hooded Crow (Corvus corone cornix). I remember seeing these birds when we were in Italy decades ago and haven't seen them anywhere else. They are found in eastern and south eastern Europe, the Middle East, Scandinavia, Scotland and Ireland. Most of western Europe has the all black Carrion Crow.

The Canopus. At the end of this pool is the summer dining room, known as the Triclinium, where the Emperor would host elaborate banquets.

I think these buildings are around the Palace area.

The Hall with Doric Pillars - all that is left of it.

There was still some excavating going on, and below, some more lovely examples of Opus Sectile inlay flooring.

Common Wall or Moorish Gecko (Tarentola mauritanica).

The Teatro Maritimi. This wasn't a theatre but a villa within a villa. The Emperor could 'escape' to the island villa to be alone. It was laid out just like a typical villa with sleeping quarters, baths, a latrine and a central garden.

The Temple of Venus.

There was a Greek theatre down the hillside but it was closed for some reason that I can't recall.

Our journey from Levanto to Bolsena Lake and then to Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli.

I hope I haven't bored the pants off you with this Roman stuff 😁 - wait until we get to the more interesting photos of Pompeii - the frescoes are out of this world!