The Villa was spread over an area of at least 120 hectares, on a tuff plateau between two ditches, that of the Ferrata water to the east and that of Risicoli or Rocca Bruna to the west. To create such a grand complex, Hadrian decided to move his residence outside the capital, choosing a green and water-rich territory near Tivoli, 28 km from Rome, on the tuff benches that widen at the foot of the Tiburtini Mountains. Currently, the visitable area is about 40 hectares.
Literary sources tell us that Hadrian, an extremely versatile personality, particularly loved architecture, to which he personally dedicated himself; the characteristics of the Villa’s layout, which differ from the architectural customs of the time, unquestionably demonstrate this participation and expertise.
In Rome, an example in this regard can be the Temple of Venus and Rome, erected in the Forum, but also the Pantheon, a rebuild of the previous temple constructed by Agrippa, attributed by some scholars to Apollodorus of Damascus, the official architect of Emperor Trajan, built in a new form and with innovative techniques. Another important monument in Rome commissioned by Hadrian is Castel Sant’Angelo, originally intended as the emperor’s tomb and later transformed into a fortress of the Papal States.
Hadrian’s Villa includes residential buildings, baths, nymphaea, pavilions, and gardens that alternate according to a completely unusual distribution, which does not reflect the usual sequence of villas and domus, even imperial ones. The various buildings were connected to each other, not only by surface paths but also by an underground road network suitable for vehicles and pedestrians for services. The richness of the architectural and sculptural decoration of the villa was extraordinary and has been the subject of frantic and systematic research since the Renaissance.
The marble spoliations, which occurred already in the medieval period for various reuses, have caused such a dispersion of the villa’s decorative apparatus that almost all the main museums and collections in Rome and the rest of Italy, as well as Europe, count among their works examples originating from Hadrian’s Villa. In 1999, Hadrian’s Villa was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Opening Hours Hadrian’s Villa, Tivoli
The Archaeological Area of Hadrian’s Villa is open every day from:
8:30 AM – 7:00 PM from September 15 to October 3, 2021
8:30 AM – 6:30 PM from October 4 to 30, 2021
The Museums are open from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM
8:30 AM – 5:00 PM from October 31 to February 27, 2022.
The Museums are open from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM
Attention: on holidays in January and February 2022, opening hours are 8:30 AM to 2:00 PM (ticket office closes one and a half hours before). Museums open from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM.
8:30 AM – 6:30 PM from February 28 to March 26, 2022
The ticket office closes one and a half hours earlier
The nature of the route in the archaeological area with paths and level changes requires suitable clothing and footwear
Closing days: January 1st and December 25th, except for special openings for projects announced on this website
, probably born in Italica, near Seville (Spain), on January 24, 76 AD; later adopted by Trajan, his father's cousin, he succeeded him as emperor in 117 AD.){kind=link}