Hadrian's Villa

Villa Adriana (Tivoli)

UNESCO World Heritage Site
Location	Tivoli, Italy
Criteria	Cultural: (i), (ii), (iii)
Reference	907
Inscription	1999 (23rd Session)
Area	80 ha (200 acres)
Buffer zone	500 ha (1,200 acres)
Website	villae.cultura.gov.it
Coordinates	41°56′46″N 12°46′21″E
Location of Hadrian's Villa in Lazio Hadrian's Villa (Italy)

Hadrian's Villa (Italian: Villa Adriana; Latin: Villa Hadriana) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site comprising the ruins and archaeological remains of a large villa complex built around AD 120 by Roman emperor Hadrian near Tivoli outside Rome.

It is the most imposing and complex Roman villa known. The complex contains over 30 monumental and scenic buildings arranged on a series of artificial esplanades at different heights and surrounded by gardens decorated with water basins and nymphaea (fountains). The whole covers an area of at least a square kilometre, an area larger than the city of Pompeii. In addition to the villa's impressive layout, many of the buildings are considered masterpieces of Roman architecture, making use of striking curved shapes enabled by extensive use of concrete. They were ingenious for the complex symmetry of their ground plans and are considered unrivalled until the arrival of Baroque architecture in the 17th century, initiated by Borromini, who used Hadrian's Villa for inspiration.

The site, much of which is still unexcavated, is owned by the Republic of Italy and has been managed since 2014 by the Polo Museale del Lazio.

History

The villa was constructed near Tibur (modern-day Tivoli) as a retreat from Rome for Emperor Hadrian during the second and third decades of the 2nd century AD. Hadrian is said to have disliked the palace on the Palatine Hill in Rome, leading to the construction of the retreat. It was traditional for the Roman emperor to have constructed a villa as a place to relax from everyday life. Previous emperors and Romans with wealth had also constructed villas (e.g. Villa of Trajan). Though emperors' villas were supposed to be a place of rest and leisure, there is some evidence of Hadrian conducting official duty from the villa in the form of an inscription of an official letter sent from the villa in the summer of 125 AD.

The picturesque landscape around Tibur had made the area a popular choice for villas and rural retreats. It was reputed to have been popular with people from the Spanish peninsula who were residents in the city of Rome. This may have contributed to Hadrian's choice of the property: although born in Rome, his parents came from Spain and he may have become familiar with the area during his early life. There may have also been a connection through his wife Vibia Sabina (83–136/137), who was the niece of the Emperor Trajan. Sabina's family held large land holdings and it is speculated the Tibur property may have been one of them. A villa from the Republican era formed the basis for Hadrian's establishment.. Hadrian began construction on the villa early in his career as emperor, though brick stamp evidence shows us that construction of the villa was ongoing.

During the later years of his reign, Hadrian governed the empire from the villa. He started using the villa as his official residence around AD 128. Therefore, a large court lived there permanently and large numbers of visitors and bureaucrats would have to have been entertained and housed temporarily on site.

After Hadrian, the villa was used occasionally by his various successors (busts of Antoninus Pius (138–161), Marcus Aurelius (161–180), Lucius Verus (161–169), Septimius Severus and Caracalla have been found on the premises). Zenobia, the deposed queen of Palmyra, lived near the villa from 273 until her passing. The villa was restored by Diocletian during the final decades of the third century.

During the decline of the Roman Empire in the 4th century, the villa gradually fell into disuse and was partially ruined as valuable statues and marble were taken away by Constantine the Great and his successors. The facility was used as a warehouse by both sides during the destructive Gothic War (535–554) between the Ostrogoths and Byzantines. Remains of lime kilns have been found, where marble from the complex was burned to extract lime for building material. Building material was also reused by the Christians to build basilicas and other buildings.

The first documented rediscovery of the villa was by Historian Biondo Flavio in the late 15th century who brought its attention to Pope Pius II whose writings on the villa in his Comeratti began to pique architectural interest in the villa. In the 16th century, Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este had much of the remaining marble and statues in Hadrian's Villa removed to decorate his own Villa d'Este located nearby. Since that period, excavations have sporadically turned up more fragments and sculptures, some of which have been kept in situ or housed on site in the display buildings.

There were no stratigraphical excavations on most of the site and much information was lost forever. Only from the end of the 19th century have its architecture and functionality begun to be studied scientifically.

Structure and architecture

A plan of Hadrian's Villa

The villa's recreation area known as Canopus, as seen from the temple of Serapis

A model of Hadrian's Villa

Hadrian's Villa is a vast area of land with many pools, baths, fountains and classical Greek and Roman architecture set in what would have been a mixture of landscaped gardens, wilderness areas and cultivated farmlands. These features required abundant sources of water and benefitted from offtakes from aqueducts feeding Rome, including the Aqua Anio Vetus, Aqua Anio Novus, Aqua Marcia, and Aqua Claudia. Hence the villa had to be located on land lower than the aqueducts which the location of the existing villa inherited by his wife Vibia Sabina suited.

The surviving ancient text describing Hadrian's Villa is the Historia Augusta, which refers to Hadrian's naming of rooms after significant locations within the Roman Empire (the Lyceum, the Academy, Hades) from his travels, notably after Egyptian cities or temples. The architecture goes beyond the mere naming of its structures, as certain buildings clearly attempt to recreate specific features of landscapes or architecture that had personal significance for the emperor. Artwork such as the crocodile of the Canopus and the statue of Osiris-Antinous show the prevalence of the orientalist aesthetic in the villa.

In September 2013, a network of tunnels was investigated, buried deep beneath the villa; these were probably service routes for staff so that the idyllic nature of the landscape might remain undisturbed. The site housed several thousand people including staff, visitors, servants and slaves. Although much major activity would have been engaged in during Hadrian's absence on tours of inspection of the provinces a great many people (and animals) must have been moving about the Tivoli site on a daily basis.

Imperial Palace

Imperial Palace

Greek library

The Imperial Palace was built over a Republican-era villa of his wife Vibia Sabina on several artificial terraces and was among the first buildings Hadrian had constructed. Some areas of the original villa are visible, such as the central courtyard, which was surrounded by porticoes, and the floor decoration in the western section. The Outer Peristyle, the Hall with Doric Pillars and the Firemen’s Headquarters were built on this level.

The personal baths of Emperor Hadrian, begun around 118 AD included the innovative Heliocaminus room, which was heated by both sunlight and a hypocaust system. The hall had a coffered dome with a central opening and large windows facing the south-west.

Below the palace, the Greek Library and the Latin Library are on the Upper Terrace of the Libraries while the Lower Terrace of the Libraries has a southern wall decorated with niches. The Courtyard of the Libraries on the Upper Terrace was accessed by two narrow corridors also leading to the Hospitalia, Imperial Triclinium and Cryptoporticus with Mosaic Vault.

Piazza d'Oro (Golden Square)

Piazza d'Oro plan

This was one of the most sumptuous and grandiose parts of the villa, and the modern name reflects its very rich architectural and sculptural furnishings which were the reason for its being systematically plundered several times, starting from the 16th century, in ‘treasure hunts’. Numerous famous marble sculptures and architectural elements from here entered the collections of foreign museums and collections. The importance of this space in the Hadrianic era as well as to subsequent emperors is apparent from the artwork recovered including imperial portraits of Sabina and of later emperors such as Marcus Aurelius (r. 161-180) and Caracalla (r. 211-217) testifying to its post-Hadrianic life.

The main peristyle enclosed a large garden with a central canal flanked by a symmetrical series of flowerbeds and pools, surrounded by a portico leading to rooms on the sides. The impressive portico was divided into two naves by alternating columns in cipollino and Egyptian green granite. Also corridors on the outsides of the east and west sides of the portico had walls separating them from the porticos which included a large number of rectangular niches.

On the north side was the main entrance from the direction of the palace through the vestibule covered by an "umbrella" dome, a wonderful example of the Roman mastery of vaulted space and typical of Hadrianic architecture. Also along the north portico on each side of the vestibule are two exedras, one with a remaining polychrome mosaic. Below these buildings was a cryptoporticus substructure connected to the subterranean road network.

On the eastern side of Piazza d'Oro is the large domed triclinium in front of which was an oval water basin.

The south side of Piazza d'Oro has a series of curvilinear rooms centred on the monumental octagonal exedra covered by a cavernous dome. Here the rooms have sometimes concave, sometimes convex forms, creating a beautiful visual interplay. The careful arrangement of these rooms scenically frames the semicircular nymphaeum at the end of the building. The nymphaeum wall had seven alternate semicircular and rectangular niches, framed by columns and lined with precious marbles, and from which jets of water fell into a pool.

The use of precious colourful opus sectile marble for most of the floors of this building (with the exception of the two exedras to the sides of the vestibule, which nevertheless featured refined glittering polychrome mosaics) while the walls were all revetted with precious marbles, indicate that this part of ​​the villa was used for "public" functions of the palace, even if in a relatively secluded position. The building has also been interpreted as the emperor’s private library, following an archaeological comparison with the Stoa of Hadrian in Athens, a monumental library he built in the same years, and which had a large central exedra with niches for statues flanked by large rooms. The numerous niches visible in the side corridors of the Piazza d'Oro could have been used to house the papyri of a large library.

Casa Colonica

Behind the portico on the north side of the Piazza d'Oro and near to the palace is the Casa Colonica, a Republican-era buiding, with plain mosaics without decorations. It was probably part of the existing Republican villa incorporated into the palace since it has the same orientation. Some of the rooms were reduced with their mosaics truncated and their black frames abruptly interrupted to make space for the construction of the entrance to the Piazza d'Oro, proving that it was intended for servants, being near the entrance to the cryptoporticus and to the Firemen’s Headquarters.

Maritime theatre

Maritime theatre

The so-called Maritime Theatre (with no relation to the usual form of a Roman theatre) consists of a circular portico with a barrel vault supported by Ionic columns, inside which is a ring-shaped pool with a central island 45 m in diameter. On the island sits a domus, complete with an atrium with portico and small garden, a library, a triclinium and small baths. The area was probably used by the emperor as a retreat from the busy life at the court. The island was connected to the portico by two wooden drawbridges.

It was one of the first buildings of the villa begun in 118 and near the Republican villa. It has been interpreted as Hadrian's first temporary residence on the site as the private part of the palace.

Pecìle Complex and the Cento Camerelle

Pecile pool

Northern spine wall of the Pecile

Cento Camerelle

The Pecile is modelled on the Stoa Poikile in the agora of Athens, the political and cultural centre of the favourite city of Hadrian from his travels. It was a huge garden on mighty artificial constructions with a large rectangular pool of 232 x 97 m surrounded by four walls with colonnaded interior but with large windows that allowed a view of the panorama.

The northern part consisted of a double portico of which the entire 9 m high central spine wall is preserved, and where today in place of the columns that supported the roof, cylindrical laurel plants have been planted. This part of the portico allowed for walking both in winter and summer with a total distance of 429 m around the spine wall.

From the Pecile one could access, via stairs, the Hall of the Philosophers and the Maritime Theatre on one side, and the Building with Three Exedras, the Nymphaeum-Stadium and the Building with Fishpond on the other. The Pecile was intended to accommodate a large number of visitors or guests and belonged to the "public" quarters of the Villa.

The Pecile platform and esplanade was made possible by the construction of an enormous substructure, the Cento Camerelle (100 rooms), to overcome the difference in height of up to 15 m with the valley below along the south and west sides. It then continues for a long stretch to the Vestibule supporting another large terrace from the Building with Three Exedras to the Vestibule. As in most of the villa's substructures, it is made up of contiguous rooms aligned on up to four floors. The rooms are of identical size with wooden floors with a single opening at the front and were accessible from external wooden balconies, so as not to weaken the walls of the buttresses by perforating them with doors, all connected by a brick staircase. The modesty of the wall and floor coverings, the number of rooms (to which the building owes its name) the many latrines and the fact that they were bordered by a paved road that entered the vestibule underground to give direct access to the servants' quarters of the baths, implies that these housed the humblest servants or slaves of the villa. It is possible that the rooms at street level, some of which have much lower ceilings, were used as warehouses.

Canopus

Canopus and triclinium

The area known as the Canopus, evokes an arm of the Nile with its delta which connected the city, site of a famous temple dedicated to Serapis, with Alexandria on the Nile delta and features a long, stately reflecting pool representing the Nile. However, brickstamps imply the construction of the Canopus was prior to 132, the year of the emperor's stay in Egypt and hence the building should rather be interpreted as an exotic representation of a Nile environment, only vaguely connected to the Canopic branch on the river delta.

The large exedra at the end of the pool features the imperial triclinium inside which is the stibadium (a semicircular masonry couch); banquets were held there, made spectacular by the water effects, the floating shows and the jets that surrounded the guests.

An elegant colonnade ran around the canal-pool, with statues facing the pool and not visitors, thus creating an enchanting reflection on the surface of the water. This area's sculptural program is the most complete including copies of famous sculptures including the caryatids of the Erechtheion, a statue depicting the Egyptian dwarf and fertility god Bes, and a crocodile.

The Baths

Grand Thermae

In the Canopus valley are the Great and Small Baths. The Great Baths included a large gymnasium with an open central courtyard within a portico and paved in opus spicatum. The rest is paved in white mosaic bordered by one or more black bands. The Frigidarium is a huge hall once covered with large slabs of white marble, with columns in cipollino marble, and with two cold pools. It has two caldaria each with two hot pools. Another room has a magnificent stucco ceiling.

The simple decoration and the large latrines indicate that the Great Baths were intended for the staff and the slaves of the Villa.

The Small Baths are one of the most complex and remarkable buildings of the villa and are decorated with great opulence and refinement, with opus sectile floors among the most beautiful of the Villa. It had rooms of various shapes and sizes covered by vaults or domes of the most diverse kind. These features and the single latrines indicate it was for the imperial family and distinguished guests.

The baths include the Octagonal Hall, considered one of the masterpieces of Hadrianic architecture and studied by some of the greatest architects of the Renaissance and Baroque. The Octagonal Hall is topped by a large circular dome as in the Pantheon.

Subterranean corridors started from the Cento Camerelle and served all the furnaces of the thermal baths.

Of the other rooms annexed to this complex, it is believed that they were intended to house the imperial guard (called the Praetorium) or the staff of the Villa.

Hall of Philosophers

The Hall of Philosophers is the room between the Pecile and the Maritime Theatre. This room was used for meetings with the most important politicians and was covered in red marble that recalled the power of the emperor, as evidenced by the impressions of the slabs on the bedding mortar along the walls and the holes for the support clamps. On the wall were seven niches where seven philosophers or relatives were probably represented.

Hospitalium

This was the barracks for soldiers on guard. Each room has a different floor and 3 soldiers occupied each room. Each room was furnished with a wardrobe and probably chests of drawers placed on the sides of the walls. The floors were decorated with mosaics and the walls with simple stucco. A staircase led to the upper floor with other small rooms.

Greek theatre

The so-called Greek theatre is an open-air theatre intended for private shows and originally covered with marble. It has the characteristics of a Roman theatre, being circular and not elliptical.

Academy

The Academy is a complex of buildings outside the state property and not open to visitors. The buildings are owned by the Bulgarini family, who have lived there since the 17th century and grant access only to scholars. It has recently been the subject of surveys and studies that have confirmed the presence of underground tunnels for the passage of carts and servants. In 1630 the Barberini Candelabra were found there, today in the Vatican Museums. In 1736-1737 the statues of two Centaurs were found, the so-called "old" and the "young" by Aristeas and Papias, the Faun (or satyr) in red marble and the famous Mosaic of the Doves on the basin, currently in the collections of the Capitoline Museums in Rome.

Temple to the Egyptian Gods

In the area of ​​the "Palaestra" an Egyptian sphinx was found in 2006 and in 2013 a statue of the god Horus in the form of a falcon. These recent discoveries, added to previous findings of a colossal bust of Isis and busts of Egyptian priests, made it clear that the complex was dedicated to the cult of Egyptian deities.

The Antinoeion

Antinoeion in front of the Cento Camerelle

In 1998 the so-called Antinoeion was rediscovered on the main road leading to the grand vestibule and in front of the Cento Camerelle. It was a temple dedicated to Antinous, lover of the emperor and deified by him after his premature death. Inside the complex, fragments of black marble statues were found, relating to Egyptian divinities or figures of priests which would confirm that this was the temple of the god Osiris-Antinous.

Dated to 134 AD, it had two temples facing each other inside a sacred enclosure with an exedra at the bottom. In the centre, between the two temples, the discovery of a large concrete foundation has been used as evidence of the original location of the Antinous Obelisk which is now located on the Pincian Hill in Rome. Some have argued that this evidence is proof of Antinous' tomb being also located on the villa. Others argue that the area instead was a highly Egyptianized nypheum. The Antinoeion is just one example of Egyptianization of the villa.

Underground levels

The villa was equipped with a vast system of underground passages, intended for the servants, who could thus move from one room to another or bring supplies without disturbing the emperor's leisure or the entertainment of his guests. Some of the streets could also be traveled by carts.

Sculptures and artworks

A steel engraving depicting Augustus' now lost painting of the death of Cleopatra VII in encaustic, which was discovered at Emperor Hadrian's Villa (near Tivoli, Italy) in 1818; she is seen here wearing the golden radiant crown of the Ptolemaic rulers, an Isis knot (corresponding to Plutarch's description of her wearing the robes of Isis), and being bitten by an asp in an act of suicide.

Many beautiful artifacts have been unearthed and restored at the villa, such as marble statues of Antinous, Hadrian's deified lover, accidentally drowned in Egypt, and mosaics from the theatre and baths. However, not all could be completely restored. The best-preserved pieces of sculptures are usually the ones that get published, but over a thousand fragments remain housed in the villa's Canopus and Cento Camerelle.

A lifelike mosaic depicted a group of doves around a bowl, with one drinking, seems to be a copy of a work by Sosus of Pergamon as described by Pliny the Elder. It has in turn been widely copied.

Many copies of Greek statues (such as the Wounded Amazon) have been found, and even Egyptian-style interpretations of Roman gods and vice versa. Most of these have been taken to Rome for preservation and restoration, and can be seen at the Musei Capitolini or the Musei Vaticani. However, many were also excavated in the 18th century by antiquities dealers such as Piranesi and Gavin Hamilton to sell to Grand Tourists and antiquarians such as Charles Towneley, and so are in major antiquities collections elsewhere in Europe and North America.

Artworks found in the villa include:

• Statue of Osiris-Antinous, Vatican Museum
• Discobolus
• Dove Basin mosaic, copy of a famous Hellenistic mosaic, Capitoline Museums
• Diana of Versailles, Louvre
• Crouching Venus
• Capitoline Antinous
• Young Centaur and Old Centaur (Capitoline versions)

Present-day significance

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designated Hadrian's Villa as a World Heritage Site in 1999. The designation specified the boundaries of the site and created a buffer zone around it in which no new construction was permitted. In 2011, the communal government of Tivoli announced plans, later cancelled, to build a waste dump in the vicinity of the villa and approved the construction of public housing on 120,000 sq. meters within the buffer zone. At its 36th Annual Meeting, UNESCO formally addressed these encroachments on the site. While they commended the Italian government for its decision to abandon the construction of a waste dump in the Corcolle area, the committee requested the government "to inform the World Heritage Centre in due time about any major development project planned in the buffer zone of the property, including the housing development at Comprensorio di Ponte Lucano, for which a Heritage Impact Assessment should be included, in accordance with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines, before any irreversible commitment is made." UNESCO also requested "the State Party to submit . . . an updated report on the state of conservation of the property," by February 2014, reflecting concerns over the deterioration of the exposed ruins.

The reasons for making the villa a World Heritage Site are: it is a masterpiece that brings together the material culture of the Mediterranean world, it inspired the Renaissance and baroque period, it inspires the modern world as well, and the villa is an exceptional survival of the early Roman Empire.

In 2016, as part of the reorganization of the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali, Hadrian's Villa, the neighboring Villa d'Este and the Temple of Hercules in Tivoli were placed under the supervision of the newly created Istituto Autonomo di Villa Adriana.

The Accademia Adrianea di Architettura ed Archeologia1 issued a call for papers for a conference titled Designing the UNESCO Buffer Aobe.

The Academy of the villa was placed on the 100 Most Endangered Sites 2006 list of the World Monuments Watch because of the rapid deterioration of the ruins.

In 2019, UNESCO designated Hadrian's Villa as a site with special immunity from wartime activity due to its profound symbolic value. This added level of security prohibits U.N. members from attacking the site or using it for military purposes in the event of a war.

In 2021 February, archaeologists led by researcher Rafael Hidalgo Prieto from the Pablo de Olavide University announced the discovery of remains of Hadrian's breakfast room which used to show his imperial power. They revealed a structure as a water triclinium and a separate dining room that served as a model for the well-known Serapeum.

"The emperor wanted to show things that would overwhelm the visitor, something that had not been seen anywhere else in the world and that exists only in Villa Adriana" said Prieto.

Gallery

• 
  The Temple of Venus
• 
  The Nymphaeum
• 
  The Maritime theatre
• 
  The Three Exedras
• 
  The Casino
• 
  "Battle of Centaurs and Wild Beasts" mosaic was made for the dining room of Hadrian's Villa (120–130 AD). Altes Museum Berlin, Germany
• 
  Bust of Antinous Hermitage Museum

See also

• List of Roman domes
• History of Roman and Byzantine domes
• Villa Romana del Casale ruins of a Roman senators villa

References

External videos
Hadrian's Villa: A Virtual Tour, Smarthistory

Further reading

• A. Betori, Z. Mari, 'Villa Adriana, edificio circolare noto come Sepolcro o Tomba: campagna di scavo 2004: breve sintesi dei resultati', in Journal of Fasti Online, www.fastionline.org/docs/2004-14.pdf
• Hadrien empereur et architecte. La Villa d'Hadrien: tradition et modernite d'un paysage culturel. Actes du Colloque international organise par le Centre Culturel du Pantheon (2002. Geneva)
• Villa Adriana. Paesaggio antico e ambiente moderno: elementi di novita` e ricerche in corso. Atti del Convegno: Roma 23–24 giugnio 2000, ed. A. M. Reggiani (2002. Milan)
• E. Salza Prina Ricotti, Villa Adriana il sogno di un imperatore (2001)
• Hadrien: tresor d'une villa imperiale, ed. J. Charles-Gaffiot, H. Lavagne [exhibition catalogue, Paris] (1999. Milan)
• W. L. MacDonald and J. A. Pinto, Hadrian's Villa and its legacy (1995)
• A. Giubilei, 'Il Conte Fede e la Villa Adriana: storia di una collezione d'arte', in Atti e Memorie della Società Tiburtina di Storia e d'arte; 68 (1995), p. 81–121
• J. Raeder, Die Statuarische Ausstattung Der Villa Hadriana Bei Tivoli (1983)
• R. Lanciani, La Villa Adriana (1906)

External links

• Digital Hadrian's Villa Project
• UNESCO: Villa Adriana (Tivoli)
• Tivoli - Hadrian's Villa