What is Tivoli known for?

Renaissance garden with 51 fountains, all gravity-fed from the Aniene, designed by Pirro Ligorio from 1550 for Cardinal Ippolito d'Este. Hadrian's 120-hectare imperial estate, the emperor's architectural collage of Egypt, Greece and Asia Minor on the Tiburtine plain. Tivoli's quarries supplied the white travertine for the Colosseum, St Peter's colonnade and most of Rome's monumental construction.

Tivoli is a comune in the province of Roma, Lazio region of Italy, about 29 kilometers from Roma.

Lazio · Roma

Tivoli

A travertine town on the Aniene falls twenty-five kilometers east of Rome, holding two separate UNESCO sites: Hadrian's villa below and the Villa d'Este above.

29 km / 18 mi

Nearest hub (Roma)

54,916

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Tivoli sitson the Aniene river where it drops 120 meters off the Tiburtini hills, twenty-five kilometers east of Rome. The Romans called it Tibur and built it up as their summer station; the moneyed classes carried on building here for two thousand years afterward. Two of those projects became UNESCO sites, listed separately. Hadrian's villa, four kilometers below town, covers 120 hectares with the remains of thirty monumental buildings the emperor built between 117 and 138 AD to recreate the architectural memories of Egypt, Greece and Asia Minor. The Villa d'Este, inside the upper town, was laid out for Cardinal Ippolito d'Este from 1550 onward; its gardens carry 51 fountains powered entirely by gravity from the Aniene. Cardinal Ippolito stripped much of the marble from Hadrian's villa to decorate his own. Below them both, the Villa Gregoriana park drops into the gorge where Gregory XVI diverted the river in 1832 to create the 120-meter Cascata Grande. The travertine quarries that built Rome are still working in the plain below.

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Gallery

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Known for

Villa d'Este
UNESCO Renaissance villa and garden laid out for Cardinal Ippolito d'Este from 1550, with 51 gravity-fed fountains stepping down the hillside.
Villa Adriana
UNESCO imperial villa built by Hadrian between 117 and 138 AD, 120 hectares with the remains of 30 monumental buildings including the Canopo and Teatro Marittimo.
Villa Gregoriana
Romantic park in the Aniene gorge, opened by Pope Gregory XVI in 1835 around the 120-meter Cascata Grande diverted through Monte Catillo.
Tempio di Vesta e Tempio della Sibilla
Two small Roman temples on the acropolis above the falls, the circular Vesta and rectangular Sibilla, both 2nd century BC.
Rocca Pia
Massive four-towered fortress built by Pope Pius II in 1461 to control the restive Tiburtine population, now in the upper town.
Terme di Roma Acque Albule
Sulphurous thermal baths in the plain below town, used since Roman times and the basis of the Comuni Termali designation.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June and September through October are when the Aniene gardens look the way Cardinal Ippolito wanted them to. The Villa d'Este fountains run hardest in spring after the winter rains; the Villa Adriana hectares are walkable in shoulder weather without burning. July and August touch the upper thirties and the unshaded ruins at Villa Adriana become punishing by mid-morning; the gorge at Villa Gregoriana stays cooler. November through March is quiet but workable, and the Acque Albule thermal baths in the plain run year-round. The Cascata Grande is loudest after winter rain, the same engineering Gregory XVI ordered when the Aniene flooded the town in 1826.