Page 273 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Rome

F AR THER AFIELD  271

columns. The island, reached by
means of a swing bridge, was
probably Hadrian’s private
studio, where he withdrew from
the cares of the Empire to
indulge in his two favorite pas-
times, painting and architecture.
There were also theaters, Greek,
and Latin libraries, two bath-
houses, extensive housing for
guests and the palace staff, and
formal gardens with fountains,
statues, and pools.
Hadrian also loved Greek
philosophy. One part of the
gardens is thought to have been
Hadrian’s reproduction of the
Grove of Academe, where Plato
lectured to his students. He also
had a replica made of the Stoà
Poikile, a beautiful painted
colonnade in Athens, from
which the Stoic philosophers
took their name. This copy
enclosed a great piazza with a
central pool. The so-called Hall
of the Philosophers, close to the
Poikile, was probably a library.
The most ambitious of
Hadrian’s replicas was the
Canopus, a sanctuary of the god
The Canopus at Hadrian’s Villa, with replicas of its original caryatids lining the canal Serapis near Alexandria. For this,
a canal 130 yd (119 m) long was
s Hadrian’s Villa columns lying among olive dug and Egyptian statues were
trees and cypresses. imported to decorate the
Villa Adriana, Largo M. Yourcenar 1. temple and its grounds. This
Site is 4 miles (6 km) southwest of For an idea of how the whole
Tivoli. Tel 0774-38 27 33. V Tivoli, complex would have looked impressive piece of engineering
then local bus No. 4. @ COTRAL from in its heyday, study the scale has been restored, and the
Ponte Mammolo (on Metro line B). model in the building by the banks of the canal are lined
Open 9am–approx 1 hour before parking lot. The most notable with caryatids.
sunset daily (last adm: 90 mins before buildings are signposted, and Another picturesque spot on
closing). Closed Jan 1 , May 1, Dec 25. several have been partially the grounds is the Vale of Tempe,
& - = 8 ∑ villaadriana. restored or reconstructed. One the legendary haunt of the
beniculturali.it of the most impressive is the goddess Diana, with a stream
so-called Maritime Theater. This representing the Peneios RIver.
Built as a private summer is a round pool with an island Below ground the emperor even
retreat between AD 118 and in the middle, surrounded by built a fanciful recreation of the
134, Hadrian’s Villa was a vast underworld, Hades, reached
open-air museum of the finest through underground tunnels, of
architecture of the Roman which there were many linking
world. The grounds of the the various parts of the villa.
Imperial Palace were filled with Plundered by barbarians who
full-scale reproductions of the camped here in the 6th and 8th
emperor’s favorite buildings centuries, the villa fell into
from Greece and Egypt. disrepair. Its marble was burned
Although excavations on this to make lime for cement, and
site began in the 16th century, Renaissance antiquarians
many of the ruins lying contributed even further to its
scattered in the surrounding destruction. Statues unearthed
fields have yet to be identified on the grounds are on display in
with any certainty. The grounds museums around Europe. The
of the villa make a very Vatican’s Egyptian Collection
picturesque site for a picnic, Pair of Ionic columns in the vaulted (see p236) has many fine works
with scattered fragments of baths of Hadrian’s Villa that were found here.

US_270-271_EW_Rome_US.indd 271 15/03/17 3:53 pm