Ship Cruises - Rome's Idyllic Italian 16th Century Villa D'Este

Stazione Tivoli, rome apartments and Rome hotels are abundant in Rome and you only have to catch the train from the Roma-Pescara Line. One of Tivoli's two breath taking villas, you must visit the Villa d'Este, to make your stay in Rome even more fantastic. It constitutes a much-copied model for European gardens in the mannerist and baroque styles, and music, plays of water, grottoes, nymphs, with its impressive variety of fountains. The Villa d'Este is now a UNESCO world heritage site; this idyllic Italian 16th-century garden.

Many inhabitants being forced to sell or face expropriation, to create ample space for the gardens a whole area of the town had to be demolished. Giochi d'acqua, water jets and fountains, troughs and pools, water tanks, which was employed in cascades, the garden took full advantage of the dramatic slope but required innovations in bringing a sufficient water supply, surrounded by a spectacular terraced garden in the late-Renaissance mannerist style. Cardinal d'Este created a palatial setting around the villa designed to impress his guests, when the villa was nearing completion, from 1550 until his death in 1572. The chief painter of the ambitious internal decoration was Livio Agresti from Forl and it was he that created the lavishly frescoed reception rooms. Which he asked Pirro Ligorio to remodel to his taste, located in a former Benedictine monastery, starting with Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este (1509-1572) who became the Governor of Tivoli and took over the Governor's palace, the history of the villa is a long one.

Which gives directly onto Pirro Ligorio's Gran Loggia, the Appartamento Nobile, and the private stairs to the lower apartment, that on the left containing Cardinal Ippolito's's library and his bedchamber with the chapel beyond, to the left and right are suites of rooms. Which fall away in a series of terraces, with its spectacular view down the main axis of the gardens, centered on the grand Sala, with its vaulted ceilings frescoed in scenes by Livio Agresti and his students, the "Old Apartment" made for Ippolito d'Este, the central main entrance leads to the Appartamento Vecchio, the villa itself is magnificent.

The gardens close one hour before sunset. In superb Rome accommodation is a brilliant way to enjoy your break in Rome and you can be at the Villa d'Este for opening at 8.30am if you're quick, staying in the buzzing centre of Rome! " The gardens are opening during the summer but you will find it difficult to see them at any other time of year. There are so many fountains in the gardens that the sounds of water reverberate in every corner and it was this that inspired the Romantic composer Franz Liszt to write a piano suite entitled "Fountains of the Villa d'Este.