http://www.gloria305travels.com/google68e958dd14763a9e.html .

 

Villa d’Este was originally a convent in 1550, which became a retirement mansion of the wealthy at one time in the past, and is located in Tivoli, it  took us an hour to reach there by metro and public bus from Rome.

Villa d ‘Este, is a work of art for its gardens, waterfalls and fountains.  In 1550  Cardinal Ippolito II was appointed Governor of Tivoli by Pope Julius III, and received Villa d’Este as a gift. As Governor of Tivoly, Ippolito II he restored the Villa Adriana, Las Cortes de Ferrara, etc.   He began to entertain the idea of building the gardens of his villa in the “Valley GAUDENT”,  it was not until 1560 that his pet project started with the painter, architect and archaeologist Pirro Ligorio, also helped by the architect Alberto Galvani, and the most qualified hydraulic engineer of the time, Tommaso Chiruchi, of Bologna.  Other painters were in charge of restoring the palace rooms.

 

 

The work was almost finished when the cardinal died in 1572.

In the eighteenth century, it was all abandoned and it was not until 1851 that Cardinal Gustav Von Hahelohe bought  Villa d’ Este and was  restored from 1867 to 1882.

 

 

The Villa’s gardens have 64 waterfalls, 51 fountains and 2844 feet of water channels.

 

 

It became again a cultural reference point and this is where the musician Franz Liszt gave one of  his last concert.

After the First World War, it was bought by the Italian government in 1920 and it was restored and opened to the public.  It was restored again in 1944 due to the bombings of World War II, and since then continually maintained.  The last thing they did was to clean the Organ fountain, and  Birdsong , listening to the music again, as it was originally.

 

 

 

The Aniene river is one source of water that supplies it to the gardens, and it  was diverted  one kilometer from its course in order to do this.  Rivellese Spring also delivers drinking water to some of the fountains, so you can safely drink it from those fountains.

My son Mike gave me instructions on how to get to Villa d’ Este from Roma without having to pay an expensive tour.  This is how we did it.

We took the metro in Rome to Ponte Mammolo station, then in the upper floor we took the Cotral bus for approx. 1 hr and got off at Villa d’ Este.  The driver announces the stop and we got off.

After enjoying Villa d’Este, you may eat lunch in any of the restaurants around the square.  There is a place that sold magazines and newspapers where you buy the bus return ticket. It was 2 Euros per person.  The total round trip cost from Rome, including the Metro, for the two of us was 10 Euros.

 

 

The charge for tours or excursions are: half day from $75 to $ 86 per person.

I want to mention that you must be able to  climb up and down many stairs.

Click on the URL below for more  photos, I hope they will give you a better idea of the beauty of this place.

http://gloria305vacaciones.com/tivoli-villa-deste-italy/

Photos by  Gloria and Vily.