At a glance

Villa Adriana Tivoli Roma Lazio (the most precisely Villa Adriana zone Tivoli Roma Lazio Italy 41.9427 N 12.7749 E UNESCO WHS 1999 reference 907 Villa Adriana (Tivoli): the site (the inscribed property: 120 ha (the total construction footprint: 300 ha including gardens and agricultural land; the core archaeological zone: 120 ha of which 40 ha are currently excavated and publicly accessible); the buildings (30+ individual architectural complexes identified in the plan; the main structures: (1) the Pecile (the Roman name for the Greek Stoà Poikile: the colonnaded courtyard replicating the Stoa Poikile of Athens (the “Painted Porch”: the portico in Athens where Zeno of Citium taught Stoic philosophy c.300 BCE); the Hadrian Pecile (118–122 CE): 232 m × 97 m; the largest single structure at Villa Adriana; the 3 m thick perimeter wall that creates the shadow/sun alternation on the ambulatio (the shaded walk) for Hadrian’s daily exercise; the garden pool at the center (80 m × 20 m)); (2) the Teatro Marittimo (the Maritime Theatre: 118–125 CE; a circular island 43 m in diameter surrounded by a ring canal (the canal: 2 m wide; 2 m deep; crossed by 2 wooden swing bridges (the only access from the island to the mainland; the bridges could be retracted at Hadrian’s discretion, making the island completely inaccessible)); the island (the island contains a complete miniature palace with atrium, tablinum, baths, portico and garden: the “philosopher’s retreat” where Hadrian could withdraw completely); (3) the Canopo (128–134 CE: the Egyptian water garden: a 119 m long × 18 m wide reflecting pool lined with a colonnade of alternating straight and curved column sequences at the south end (the “Serapeum”: a large semicircular apsidal dining pavilion at the south end with a waterfall from the stibadium (the semicircular dining couch) fed from an aqueduct hidden in the hillside); the statues (the Canopo statues: copies of 4th century BCE Greek originals: the 4 Caryatids (copies of the Erechtheion Caryatids of Athens), the 2 Sileni (the satyrs of Dionysus), the Amazon, the Ares Borghese: all originals in the Museo Nazionale Romano; the pool copies are reinforced concrete casts in situ)); (4) the Thermae (the 2 bath complexes: the Piccole Terme (118–125 CE: the private baths; 4 heated rooms (tepidarium, caldarium, sudatio, frigidarium); mosaic floors); the Grandi Terme (the public baths; 4× the size of the Piccole Terme; the 23 m high circular frigidarium (cold plunge room) with the 4 apsidal recesses and the concrete dome (the earliest surviving concrete dome at Villa Adriana, predating the Pantheon completion by 2 years)); (5) the Biblioteca (the Library complex: the Greek and Latin Libraries (2 separate halls for Greek texts and Latin texts; the widths: 9 m each; the difference (the division between Greek and Latin libraries reflects the bilingual culture of the Roman imperial court: Hadrian was personally more comfortable in Greek (he spoke Greek at home: the primary language of his private correspondence was Greek, not Latin; he composed poetry in Greek; his autobiography was in Greek))