Voluta by Cardinal Ippolito II d’Este, appointed Civil Governor of the city of Tivoli by Pope Julius III, who wanted to compensate him in this way after defeating him in the race for the papal throne, the Villa was developed by the Neapolitan Pirro Ligorio: he entrusted the restoration of the Benedictine convent to the architect Galvani, keeping for himself the creation of the magnificent garden.
Passed upon the cardinal’s death into the hands of relatives, Alessandro and Luigi, it then passed to the Habsburgs, relatives of Maria Beatrice, the last Este: its condition was deteriorating rapidly, when it was partially saved by Cardinal Hohenlohe, who revived its splendor also hosting the famous Franz Liszt.
In 1919, based on the treaty of St. Germain, the Italian State became its owner. The work carried out by Ligorio was truly remarkable: it involved overcoming many practical problems and began with the creation of the high garden embankment, using the old city walls as buttresses; he excavated a 600 m long gallery beneath the city of Tivoli that carried an incredible amount of water from the Aniene basin to the basin above the Ovato fountain, channeled the water from the Rivelese spring to the Villa’s cisterns, and precisely calculated how much water would be needed to execute all the water features he had in mind, using only the principle of communicating vessels.
He also enlisted the collaboration of skilled hydraulics experts such as Giacomo della Porta and Claude Venard, who built the hydraulic organ. But what impresses even more are the numbers: a total of 35,000 sqm of gardens, 250 jets, 60 water springs, 255 waterfalls, 100 basins, 50 fountains, 20 exedrae and terraces, 300 sluices, 30,000 seasonal rotating plants, 150 centuries-old tall trees, 15,000 perennial ornamental plants and trees, 9,000 sqm of paths, lanes, and ramps.
Villa d’Este Opening Hours in Tivoli
January 8:30-16:00 17:00
February 8:30-16:30 17:30
March 8:30-17:15 18:15
April 8:30-18:30 19:30
May 8:30-18:45 19:45
June 8:30-18:45 19:45
July 8:30-18:45 19:45
August 8:30-18:45 19:45
September 8:30-18:15 19:15
October 8:30-17:30 18:30
November 8:30-16:00 17:00
December 8:30-16:00 17:00
