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March 2004

Tivoli

David Aaronson
2005-10-01 16:44:43

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simply have been a secluded retreat.

We had a pleasant lunch at the hotel outside Villa Adriana and then headed up to the center of Tivoli (4). There is a nice park in the center of town with an impressive view to the Tiber plain below. Rome can supposedly be seen on a clear day. Meanwhile, we've been lax in recording our gelato consumption, so between Rome and Tivoli on this day David had Bacio (hazelnut) , coconut, pine nut and lemon . Melanie had cr�me caramel, nutella, coffee, panna cota and nocciola (she likes flavors in the cream - to brown color spectrum).

So like the sign says, Villa d'Este is an impressive formal estate set square in the middle of Tivoli (5). It can actually be a little bit difficult to find as the entrance is somewhat hidden in an alleyway. The villa itself is nice, but it's the formal gardens that are really impressive.

By gardens, we really mean fountains. There were some flowers and ornamental shrubs and topiary but it's the water features (dozens of them) that everyone comes to see. This alcove for instance has several levels of fountains and a covered walkway behind the bottom waterfall (6).

The d'Este family were wealthy and politically powerful throughout the Italian renaissance and almost constantly had at least one high ranking cardinal in the church. Ippolito d'Este who came close to the title of Pope several times was responsible for these gardens.

With all the poplar and cypress trees and all the running water it's a lovely cool place to spend an otherwise hot afternoon. There are about 35 different fountain complexes many of which are still being restored to their original functionality.

This set for instance is surmounted by a water organ which plays songs periodically (7).

Behind the mid level of this set of fountains are a series of grottoes which each contain a powerful (and loud) waterfall (8). Most of these do in fact date from the 1500s and this is definitely a worthwhile place to take a trip out from Rome.

This is back in Rome where we absolutely have to laud a restaurant now. Trattoria della Stampa is located near the Piazza Barberini between Trevi and the Quirinale gardens. We chose it somewhat at random and are very glad we did so. A relatively small family-run restaurant (like most of them in Rome), there was no menu when we visited. Instead the waiter just came out of the (tiny) kitchen and told us what appetizers, pasta courses, meat courses, etc� were currently available. If we didn't order something they thought we should, they brought it along too so we could try it. The sheer amount of food we consumed here is somewhat alarming in retrospect. We recommend everything, but particularly the matriciana, the veal meatballs, the roast potatoes and the homemade limoncello.