Hadrian's Villa is found in the city of Tivoli, in Lazio, just 30 miles east of Rome.
The emperor Hadrian, who ruled from 117 to 138 A.D., wasn't very content with his political residence on Palatine hill in nearby Rome and therefore chose to have a luxurious villa built in Tivoli, tucked in the hills of Mount Tiburtina, amidst the peaceful beauty of nature.
The largest of all villas found in Tivoli, the estate extends over 300 acres of land and is the place where Hadrian spent the last 10 years of his life.
The garden was done in an eloquent Alexandrian style and included several thermal baths, theaters, temples, libraries and living quarters for those who worked and served him on the enormous estate.
Because Hadrian was not only a world traveller, but architect as well, the estate shows many architectural orders as seen in the Greek Maritime theater, pool and grottos, named after the Egyptian Canopus and Serapeum, several statues and Corinthian columns.
After the death of Hadrian, various successors resided there but during the decline of Rome and plundering of the Barbarians, the villa was abandoned and much of it was burned.
It seems that the first excavations took place in the 15th century by the governor of Tivoli, son of the notorious Lucrezia of Borgia, where many treasures were found including numerous statues and mosaics.
In the 16th century, Cardinal Ippolito II decided to build a villa, as well, in Tivoli, and took much of the precious marble and many of the statues form Hadrian's villa to his own Villa d'Este.
Later excavation discovered other precious works found in the villa that were distributed to various museums in Europe including the Capitoline and Vatican museums in Rome.
