1. A Day in Tivoli Country of Water 20 Agosto 2014

2. Tivoli, the classical Tibur, is an ancient Italian town in Lazio, about 30 kilometres east-north-east of Rome, at the falls of the Aniene In Tivoli there is the Villa Gregoriana, a villa complex pivoting around the Aniene's falls. The "Great Waterfall" was created through a tunnel in the Monte Catillo, to give an outlet to the waters of the Aniene sufficient to preserve the city from inundations like the devastating flood of 1826. The most famous Villa in Tivoli is the Villa d'Este, a World Heritage Site, whose construction was started in 1550 by Pirro Ligorio for Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este

3. Villa Gregoriana is located in a panoramic spot at the foot of the Roman acropolis in Tivoli, this beautiful park boasts an immense natural, historical and archaeological heritage.

4. The easeless work of nature and man has contributed to the creation of a wonderful landscape, featuring a combination of natural and artificial waterfalls, ravines, gorges – a source of inspiration for poets and artists – and fascinating walks through luxuriant vegetation.

5. The park is truly unique, providing an exemplary interpretation of the sublime aesthetics so beloved of the Romantic movement. Nature and artifice are so seductively interwoven here that the park provided the main subject for 19th- century paintings and drawings of Tivoli, which became an essential stop on the Grand Tour.

6. Villa d’Este, masterpiece of the Italian Garden, is included in the UNESCO world heritage list. With its impressive concentration of fountains, nymphs, grottoes, plays of water, and music, it constitutes a much-copied model for European gardens in the mannerist and baroque styles.

7. The garden plan is laid out on a central axis with subsidiary cross-axes, refreshed by some five hundred jets in fountains, pools and water troughs. The water is supplied by the Aniene Pirro Ligorio's Fontana dell'Ovato

8. The Hundred Fountains where the water jets fill the long rustic trough

9. The Rometta ("the little Rome")

10. The fountain of the Dragons, dominating the central perspective of the gardens, erected for a visit in 1572 of Pope Gregory XIII whose coat-of-arms features a dragon.

11. Central stairs lead down a wooded slope to three rectangular fishponds set on the cross- axis at the lowest point of the gardens, terminated at the right by the fountain of the organ.

13. The music of water resounds in the paths of the garden

14. It’s a wonderful sight!