3840 x 5760 px | 32,5 x 48,8 cm | 12,8 x 19,2 inches | 300dpi
Data acquisizione:
15 giugno 2013
Ubicazione:
Tivoli, Metropolitan City of Rome, Italy
Altre informazioni:
Hadrian's Villa (Villa Adriana in Italian) is a large Roman archaeological complex at Tivoli, Italy. It is a property of the Republic of Italy, and directed and run by the Polo Museale del Lazio since December 2014. The villa was constructed at Tibur (modern-day Tivoli) as a retreat from Rome for Roman Emperor Hadrian during the second and third decades of the 2nd century AD. Hadrian was said to dislike the palace on the Palatine Hill in Rome, leading to the construction of the retreat. During the later years of his reign, Hadrian actually governed the empire from the villa. Hadrian started using the Villa as his official residence around AD 128. A large court therefore lived there permanently and large numbers of visitors and bureaucrats would have to have been entertained and temporarily housed on site. The postal service kept it in contact with Rome 29 km (18 mi) away, where the various government departments were located. The buildings are constructed in travertine, brick, lime, pozzolana, and tufa. The complex contains over 30 buildings, covering an area of at least a square kilometre. One of the most striking and best preserved parts of the Villa consists of a pool named Canopus and an artificial grotto named Serapeum. An Egyptian city named Canopus was where a temple named Serapeum was dedicated to the god Serapis. However, the architecture is Greek influenced (typical in Roman architecture of the High and Late Empire) as seen in the Corinthian columns and the copies of famous Greek statues that surround the pool. The pool measured 119 by 18 meters. Each column surrounding the pool was connected to each other with marble. 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.
